On Thursday (20th June) night, a mob of frenzied Muslims lynched a man after accusing him of desecrating the Quran in the Madyan area in Swat district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan.
As per reports, the victim was a native of Sialkot district in Punjab province of Pakistan and had been on a visit to Swat as a tourist. The Muslim mob alleged that he set fire to some pages of the Quran and used it as a pretext to carryout his lynching.
It must be mentioned that the Swat police had initially taken the ‘blasphemy accused’ into its custody to prevent any untoward law and order. However, the frenzied mob charged at the police station dragged out the victim and took him away.
While speaking about the matter to Dawn, Swat District Police Officer (DPO) Dr Zahidullah Khan informed, “People set fire to the police station and a mobile vehicle.” A total of 8 people were injured during the attack.
The victim was then lynched and his body was set on fire (torched). A video of the disturbing incident went viral on social media on Thursday (June 20th night).
Following the incident, a heavy police force was deployed in Madyan area to pacify the situation and bring law and order under control. The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur has taken cognisance of the matter and appealed to the Muslims to maintain peace.
He has also summoned a report on this matter and directed SDPO Dr Zahidullah Khan to control the situation immediately.
Christian man killed by Muslim mob in Sialkot
In May this year, an elderly Christian man named Nazir Masih was lynched by a frenzied Muslim mob over dubious allegations of Toheen-e-Mazhab (blasphemy). The incident took place in Mujahid Colony in Sargodha city in Punjab province of Pakistan.
The Muslim mob vandalised Masih’s house, looted his factory and set him ablaze over rumours that he burnt pages of the Quran. In reality, the victim was acting out of goodwill and that cost him his life.
While speaking about the matter to Swarajya, the nephew of the victim Tariq Sajid said that a massive storm swept through their neighbourhood in the intervening night between 24th May and 25th May.
As a result, debris accumulated on the street in Mujahid Colony and made it difficult for people to commute. The elderly Christian man swept the street and collected the garbage near an electricity pole, without knowing that it contained a box full of pages from the Quran.
Nazir Masih then set the garbage on fire. A Muslim passerby saw the victim burning the debris and concluded that he intentionally burnt the holy Islamic text. This gave rise to a rumour that the Christian man deliberately committed blasphemy.
Sajid told Swarajya, “My uncle was only trying to do a good deed by cleaning the street, but see what it did to him.” He added that the contents of the box (known as Muqaddas Quran) must have accidentally fallen into the trash during the storm.
Reportedly, the radical Islamist outfit Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) put up boxes on street corners across Pakistan so that people can keep discarded holy texts in them instead of garbage bin.
According to Sajid, a jealous woman must have triggered the Muslim mob by falsely accusing Nazir Masih, a well-to-do Christian, of blasphemy.