Case of mob lynching in the name of blasphemy is regularly being reported in Pakistan. On February 11, 2023, an accused of blasphemy was lynched by an Islamist mob who stormed a police station in the Punjab province of Pakistan, according to a media report. In recent years Pakistan has witnessed many cases of vigilante action by mobs against those accused of blasphemy.
According to police, the Islamist mob stormed the police station at Warburton, Nankana Sahib and took custody of accused Waris Issa, who was arrested for alleged desecration of the holy book. The mob dragged him into the streets before beating him to death. Letter, they attempted to set his body on fire.
After spending more than five years in jail since 2017, a Christian man named Masih, who was booked on the charges of blasphemy, was sentenced to death by a Lahore court in July 2022.
On February 8, 2022, a local court sentenced Notan Lal, a Hindu teacher, to 25-year imprisonment and a fine of PKR 50,000 over blasphemy charges. Lal was accused by a student Muhammad Ihtisham of insulting the Prophet in the classroom, and he later reportedly retracted the charges. However, the court did not consider Ihtisham’s statement before proclaiming Lal guilty. The case dates back to 2019, when not only was an FIR filed against him, but miscreants looted various shops of Hindus and a temple was attacked.
In January 2022, a 26-year-old woman, Aneeqa Ateeq, was sentenced to death by the Rawalpindi court for allegedly sending blasphemous messages over Facebook and WhatsApp. She was arrested in May 2020 and was accused of posting caricatures of Prophet Mohammad. However, she has said that she was drawn into the controversy by her male friend.
In August 2021, An eight-year-old Hindu boy was held in protective police custody in east Pakistan after becoming the youngest person to be charged with blasphemy in the country.
In a horrific incident, a Sri Lankan man, working as an executive in a garment factory, named Priyantha Diyawadana, was tortured and lynched by members and supporters of the radical extremist organisation Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) in 2021, over allegations of blasphemy. Later his body was burnt with hundreds watching the gruesome incident. The Sri Lankan was living in Sialkot since 2010.
Here, it is worth mentioning, in 2010, a Pakistani Christian woman, Aasia Bibi, was convicted of blasphemy by a Pakistani court and was sentenced to death. However, in October 2018, the Supreme Court of Pakistan acquitted her based on lacking evidence. She was forced to leave Pakistan due to the threat from Islamist forces.
Notably, according to ‘Human Rights Without Frontiers’, report, between 1987 and 2021, 1,865 people were charged in Pakistan for blasphemy. Since 1990, more than 70 people have been murdered or lynched over accusations of blasphemy.
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