Pakistan: 50 Men arrested in Pakistan over killing Blasphemy suspect

Pakistani police have arrested at least 50 people accused of kidnapping and lynching a man already arrested on charges of blasphemy. This information was given by the officials on Monday.

Hundreds of angry people gathered at the police station in Nankana district of East Pakistan province on Saturday. Members of the crowd warned that a person named Waris had adopted a copy of the Quran, the holy book of Muslims. 

District police chief Babar Sarfaraz Alpa said the mob accused Waris of pasting photographs of himself, his wife and a knife on the pages of the book and threw it on the road. There is a provision of death penalty for blasphemy in Pakistan. According to official information, the mob stormed the Warburton police station on Saturday.

Someone scaled the wall with the help of wooden steps and opened the main gate through which the crowd entered. By the time the police force arrived to rescue the prisoner, the mob had beaten him to death and were about to burn him. The police dispersed the crowd.

Allegations are made to extract personal enmity

On Monday, Alpa said police had arrested at least 50 people involved in the attack. He said that raids are on to nab the other accused. International and Pakistani rights groups say blasphemy charges are often used to intimidate religious minorities and stoke personal enmity.

The government of Pakistan has been under pressure for a long time to change the country's blasphemy law. However, Islamists strongly oppose it. The slain heir was arrested in 2019 on charges of blasphemy. He was given a prison sentence until mid-2022. 

Sacked the officers

According to the police, Waris again insulted the Quran and some eyewitnesses caught him and thrashed him. The police took Waris into custody. But later the mob attacked the police station and killed him. The crowd said that they were giving him the punishment of Quran.

Authorities have sacked the chief of the police station and the deputy superintendent of the area for their failure to stop the attack, according to a statement.