Country sliding towards extreme intolerance: HRCP

Commission expresses annoyance over murder of college principal in Charsadda

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has expressed annoyance and deep grief over brutal murder of a college principal by a student the other day under the suspicion of blasphemy in Tehsil Shabqadar of District Charsadda.

The shocking incident occurred after the student had allegedly been reprimanded over his absence from college. The student reportedly had skipped college to attend the Faizabad dharna in November 2017.

In a statement here on Tuesday, HRCP stated, “This killing is yet another shameful reminder of how easy it still is to manipulate the existing blasphemy laws to avenge personal grievances. Blasphemy remains a highly sensitive issue and allegations do not need to be proven before provoking murder”.

It said, “It is regrettable that no lessons are being learnt from the past incidents and no action is being taken at all by the authorities to prevent such episodes. This incident is further confirmation of the slide toward extreme intolerance in societies on the one hand and, on the other hand, the apathy and inability of the authorities to meet the challenges of extremism.”