Hub police refuse to hand ‘blasphemy’ suspect to mob

• With arrest of 20 protesters, local police disperse crowd, using tear gas shelling, aerial firing

A 13-year-old boy died in aerial firing after violence erupted in Hub area of the Lasbela district in Balochistan province as police refused to hand over a local man suspected of ‘blasphemy’ to an angry mob, a private TV channel reported.

With locals resorting to pelting stones at police when their demands were not met, the channel reported. A 35-year-old local business owner was suspected of sharing a picture containing allegedly blasphemous content on WhatsApp, a freeware, cross-platform and end-to-end encrypted instant messaging application for smartphones.

A First Information Report (FIR) was registered against the accused on the complaint under sections 295-A and 295-C of Pakistan’s blasphemy law. The suspect was shifted to the Gaddani Central Jail. Lasbela SSP Zia Mandokhel said that the police had lodged a case against the accused while a cellphone, from which the suspect allegedly shared ‘blasphemous’ content, has been seized.

Further, a local court has sent the suspect to jail for further interrogation in the case. An hours-long protest outside the Hub city police station turned violent, with protesters pelting stones at police, after security officials refused the demand that police hand over the accused to the community so they could administer ‘justice’ themselves and ‘punish’ him.

The police dispersed the crowd with tear gas shelling and aerial firing, and took 20 protesters into custody. Search operations were underway to arrest those suspected of inciting the mob to the violence, the police confirmed to the media. Three officials including an additional deputy commissioner were injured in the violence, along with a rescue official and a child who later succumbed to his injuries, as he had received bullet wounds which turned fatal.

According to SSP Mandokhel, the teenager died in the violence and had been identified as Qudratullah son of Bismillah. The boy was a resident of nearby Pathan Colony and became a victim of aerial firing during the clash which took place near the bus stop in Hub.

Later, SSP Mandokhel said that the situation was now under control and all the markets that had shut down in the afternoon had reopened and traffic was also running smoothly. In Pakistan, blasphemy, which carries the death penalty, is a sensitive issue, with allegations often prompting mob violence.

Last month, Federal Minister for Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony Sardar Mohammad Yousaf had said that blasphemy by anyone cannot be condoned but no one will be allowed to take laws into his own hands. He hinted at doing legislation to prevent the misuse of the blasphemy law.

Vigilantes have murdered 65 people over blasphemy allegations since 1990, according to research compiled by the Center for Research and Security Studies think-tank.

*Name withheld to protect identity of the suspect