A religiously-charged emotional mob late on Tuesday night burnt a mentally-challenged man to death for allegedly burning pages of the Holy Quran in Bahawalpur district.
Chani Ghotchakar Police Sub-Inspector Ghulam Farid told Pakistan Today on the phone that the man, who was mentally unstable and was only wearing a vest at the time, was seen setting fire to some pages of the holy book in the Chani Ghotchakar area.
The police was informed and the accused was taken into custody and put behind bars. Later, some locals gathered a crowd and made provocative speeches, inciting people against the “blasphemer”, the official said.
He said following the speech, a massive crowd of about 7000-8000 people besieged the police station and demanded the police handover the suspect to them. Farid said police tried its best to placate the protesters but the situation got out of hand and the enraged people barged into the police station.
They ransacked the premises, set four official vehicles on fire and injured at least eight policemen, the SI said. Another official said the mob put up roadblocks to prevent police reinforcements from reaching the area. “We were totally outnumbered. There were too many of them and they were hysterical. Eventually, they succeeded in taking him away,” he said.
The man was reportedly beaten and dragged to the spot where he is said to have desecrated the Holy Quran. The mob then poured petrol on him and set him on fire, according to witnesses. They said hundreds of people looked on as he screamed for help.
Police say they are trying to identify the victim, who was said to be mentally unstable. “The man had no idea what was going on,” said an official. “While he was in our custody, he kept laughing and chanting.” Farid said that an FIR of the incident had been registered but refused to reveal the details, saying it had been sealed.
People use blasphemy to settle their own issues with others. They do not know what blasphemy is all about. If there is a law of blasphemy then there is a law that no one can hurt other person. Trial is the responsibility of the state no ours. If one person is against the religion, rest the ppl who burnt the man broke the law and went against the teachings of their religion.
Mr. Hoshiyaar, this man was mentally ill, what personal motives would anyone have against him. If you don't have your facts right, kindly refrain from posting such idiotic comments, read again, the keyword is PLEASE!!!
True face…Pakistanis themselves dont have faith in their courts..
Pakistan itself if a blasphemy .. I hope it is burnt alive someday like this only…
How shameful. You barbarians.
Disgraceful. 'blasphemer' – so what!!!! ….Better than being a sadistic theocratic thug.
Welcome to Pakistan. Land of pure (hatred)
True signs of a very sick Soceity.
Those who incited this violence no doubt feel proud of themselves.
Those who participated in it feel, I am sure, 'holy' today.
Those of us with brains, hearts and souls feel sickening shame that this is our country.
GOD help us all.
Amendments in blasphemy laws made by the despicable despot Zia must be struck down. I wonder how many people mullahs want to kill before this law is abrogated. the present instance is failure of Punjab government but obviously father of Arsalan will not take any notice. After all Sharifs rule Punjab and Rana Sanaullah is his cousin.
Great comment, but seriously nobody gives a rat's @$$ to what SH*t you are talking about.
Even God is wondering WTF is wrong with this society.
''DPO Bahawalpur Ishaq Jahangir told the paper that it was “crystal clear” that the man who set the Holy Quran on fire was mentally unstable.''
If it is TRUE then i am feeling realy guilty that how bad we are .. ALLAH forgive our innocence.
but,
If it's wrong then all non muslims get it how bad punishment is if they think bad or act bad against our HOLY BOOK .. they are not in Denmark ..
You do realize your comment is quite "irrelevant". whats with Denmark anyway? Haven't you heard about the Hajj they offer for underprivileged people in Malir, Karachi? isnt that harming the ummah, dude like seriously grow out of the Denmark issues, and stop being the idiot you are, its people like you who actually provoke others to take such steps.
And what do you mean by innocence? people dragging and beating a mentally ill person are innocent? these retarded innocent people didnt hear the screams of this burning man… really man how innocent they are, you can also follow suit, burn someone today and claim your innocence.
YES land of pure A**holes. THIS IS TRULY AN UGLY COUNTRY INSIDE AND OUT UGLY
you're also part of it ass@#$%^&*
Mentally deranged person torn the pages and burnt the pages only. Those who killed him by burning him alive, actually violated the true spirit and essence of Quran and Islam. They insulted the teachings of Quran and Islam. So who is blasphemer actually?
For goodness sake, the man was a mental case, and he did not know what he was doing. He should have been protected by the state and given treatment. This behaviour does not augur well for the future of Pakistan
Pakistani people are mental and sick. they are barbarian. they do not know what is human life.
All these sentiments of disgust, are worth nothing, tell me when was it the last time you took a stand, PUBLICLY, ( not just a rant on the internet,) against the killing of Ahmadis, Hazaras and Christian. Tell me if any one of you ever tried to tell the imam of your mosque to shut up, when he was fanning hatred. We are a pusillanimous lot.
Exactly my point, we are all cowards, we can only comment and be the heroes we are on the internet.
Educated Muslims of Pakistan realizing the extremism and terror that is Islam and Pakistan. Hope they come out of this rat hole.
welcome to era of Post Zia-ul-Haq and Taliban
Actually I was thinking such people dont gather against the Govt who is ruling over 4 years and putting us in these situations..
Welcome to P(F)akistan, where bribing is no shame and humans are burnt alive by the mob in open air. After all everything happen P(F)akistan "Allah" wishes.
Nagorik, you seem to be Bangladeshi from your name, isnt your country a muslim state too? then why the anger with Allah?
Or you were just referring to Allah so that all the Islam haters will like your comment, and somehow you'll end up being asked for an interview as to how in the world did you come up with such brilliant comments. Dude grow up… its high time.
May be allah have told them to burn the person…shame on those people
Some people are born mad—Others become mad because of the circumstances while more become mad by joining the macabre fun. In Pakistan all the three categories exist. The man who was burnt surely had some sane relatives who must have witnessed the event. What about their feelings. Pakistanis have collectively gone mad. Can,t we have a dialogue with our painful past or is it too painful. Zia is long dead and buried but a new generation keeps his memory alive by burning innocent people who are unstable. Congratulations are due to the sane burners.
Pakistanis have collectively gone mad.
That is the whole point. As an Indian, this had already been seen and taken as a foregone conclusion.
I just got up with a nightmare. There was cold sweat running down my spine! My wife got upset and asked what was wrong. I replied i don.t believe it. She asked what is you don,t believe in. I told her about the burning. She stared sobbing but pulled herself up and said Look you are a doctor try to treat yourself.You know it is the act of mad people. Say a silent prey for the departed soul and prey for your country too.
So does deleting an electronic document which has quranic verses also a blasphemy? When will we grow out of our ignorance and start using our brains.
Well said! when i was growing up my late mother saw to it that i was taugt quran like all others by a maulvi who to my young mind always looked threatning. His interpretation always sowed fear in my young brain. I once was so confused and scared that i asked her about it. My mother,s reply was simple –Son i am going to give you the best education so that you can interpret what is right or wrong where ever you may in the world. It is a message i have carried into my old age and passed on to my children. I have alwys carried the quran safely in my heart. No body can burn it. I don.t get angry if someone says anything negative about it.I don,t go about burning people. Let us not carry our emotions on our sleeves and play to the media for attention. Who are we to judge fallow human beings esp if they do seem to be as intelligent as us. The people who did the burning should be charged for murder of an innocent man.
I can' t believe the occurrence of this incident to be true, ..Impossible, I must say!
May we all interpret the shariah well and have clear minds…It was wrong for 7000 people to take the law in their own hands. If the person was mad, he deserved no such punishment. If he was not, he was to be punished by state and no indivisuals.
,,,,,,,and those who condenm Islam,Pakistan or its blasphomy laws should know that bratain had one such law against ones who insulted Jesus christ (peace be upon him) . They should then condenm “secular and democratic” India for liquidating the Kashmiris or Israel’s illegal possession on the holy land.
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ZIA ZINDA HAI!!!!
Those who kill you will think that they are serving God ..Has that time come .????? Is this brutal murder a service to God ?????
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