Pakistan: Imran Khan Party Rally Turns Violent, Local Cleric Lynched To Death Over “Blasphemous” Remarks

In a disturbing incident in the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, a man was publicly beaten to death by a mob for allegedly making “blasphemous” remarks during an opposition party rally.

Nigar Alam, a local cleric, was asked to give a speech at a rally organised by former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party on Saturday night at Sawaldher village in Mardan, a district where a university student was previously killed over similar allegations, reports TOI.

When Alam allegedly “passed blasphemous remarks” as the gathering was about to conclude, he was killed by hundreds of people attending the rally of the PTI's local chapter.

According to Rokhanzeb Khan, Mardan’s senior superintendent of police, when the police saw that the crowd was about to attack Alam, they escorted him to a shop in a nearby market. However, people broke into the shop and started attacking him with punches, kicks and clubs. Alam died on the spot, and his body was later taken to the hospital for legal formalities.

“We have filed a first information report where the police itself is the complainant, but due to the sensitivity of the matter, the FIR is sealed,” the officer added.

The footage of the lynching has been extensively circulated on social media, depicting law enforcement officers vainly attempting to halt a frenzied mob from assaulting the individual.

In February this year, an angry mob entered a police station in Lahore, snatched a blasphemy-accused from his cell and brutally killed him.

In April, a Chinese engineer identified as "Mr Tian" was arrested and charged after a mob attempted to attack him for allegedly making derogatory comments and gestures towards Allah and the Prophet.

In December 2021, in a bone-chilling case of barbarity, a fanatic crowd killed and burnt a Sri Lankan national, identified as Priyantha Kumara, who was a factory manager, accusing him of disrespecting Quran in Pakistan's Sialkot district.

On social media, a video circulated showing the victim being set on fire while a crowd of thousands chanted slogans of “Gustaakh-e-Nabi ki ek saza, sar tan se juda sar tan se juda."

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