ISLAMABAD: Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Sunday his government had “zero tolerance” for anyone taking the law into their own hands and lynchings would be dealt with the “full severity of the law.”
Khan’s comments were in response to an incident of a middle-aged man being stoned to death by a mob over alleged blasphemy in a remote village in Khanewal district on Saturday.
The killing comes just months after a mob of factory employees tortured and burned a Sri Lankan manager in Sialkot in December over apparent blasphemy in a “horrific” attack that Khan said had brought shame on the country.
The Sialkot incident drew nationwide condemnation and authorities arrested dozens of people over involvement in the killing of Priyantha Kumara. Those linked to Kumara’s murder are facing a trial in Pakistan.
“We have zero tolerance for anyone taking the law into their own hands & mob lynchings will be dealt with full severity of the law,” Khan said after Saturday’s lynching. “Have asked Punjab IG for report on action taken against perpetrators of the lynching in MIan Channu & against the police who failed in their duty.”
The Punjab police said on Twitter they had conducted more than 120 raids at various places last night and arrested 62 people, including key suspects. A case has been registered against 33 nominated and 300 unidentified suspects.
A preliminary report of the lynching in Tulamba town has been submitted to the Punjab chief minister. “No one will be allowed to take law in their hands,” the police said.
Information minister Fawad Chaudhry said violence over alleged blasphemy was the result of a “destructive level of extremism” in Pakistan’s education, saying “school, police station and pulpit” needed reform.
“The Saturday incident took place in Jungle Dera village where hundreds of locals gathered after Maghrib prayers following announcements that a man had torn some pages of the Holy Qur’an and later set them on fire,” Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper reported. “The villagers first hanged him with a tree and then hit him with bricks, until he died.”
The Express Tribune newspaper reported that the accused, who claimed innocence, had been in police custody but was allowed to leave the police station even though an angry mob was present outside.
“Taking notice of the incident, IG Punjab Rao Sardar Ali Khan sought a report from Additional IG South Punjab over the incident,” Tribune said. “He also directed RPO Multan to conduct a thorough inquiry in this regard and ordered DPO Khanewal to reach the affected location as soon as possible.”
Mob killings over accusations of blasphemy — a crime that can carry the death sentence — have been frequent in Muslim-majority Pakistan.
In January this year, a Pakistani court sentenced a Muslim woman to death after finding her guilty of blasphemy for insulting Islam’s Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).
The woman, Aneeqa Atteeq, was arrested in May 2020 after a man alerted police that she sent him offensive caricatures via WhatsApp.
Under Pakistan’s blasphemy laws, anyone found guilty of insulting the religion or religious figures can be sentenced to death. While authorities have yet to carry out a death sentence for blasphemy, just the accusation can cause riots.
In December, at a memorial service for Kumara, PM Khan vowed that his government would never again allow anyone to misuse religion to perpetrate violence in Pakistan.
“The government will not spare anyone who tries to use religion, particularly the name of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), to generate violence,” the prime minister said. “Such instances will not be allowed to take place on my watch.”
