Pakistan Detains Police Officer For Killing Blasphemy Suspect

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News

ISLAMABAD (Worthy News) – Pakistani authorities detained a police officer who allegedly shot dead a man for “blasphemy against Islam” following the recent killing of a Christian on similar charges, Worthy News established Saturday.

The fatal shooting happened Thursday inside a highly protected police station in Quetta, the capital of Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province, a day after the victim, a Muslim, was arrested for making “derogatory remarks” about the prophet Muhammad.

A senior local police officer, Muhammad Baloch, told reporters that they had arrested the policeman involved in the shooting and registered a murder case against him. He did not name the detainee.

Christians told Worthy News that the blasphemy suspect, Abdul Ali, was taken into custody on Wednesday in the Kharotabad neighborhood. A mob of dozens of residents then surrounded the police detention facility and demanded that he be handed over to them so they could kill him, according to witnesses.

Police officials reported the protesters also had thrown a grenade at the building, but the resulting blast did not cause any casualties.

They said the violence forced them to transfer Ali to the police station in the central garrison area of Quetta, where he was fatally shot “inside the lockup by an on-duty policeman” on Thursday.

FUNERAL PREVENTED

Activists of a religious party later prevented Ali’s family from burying him in his hometown of Pishin, about 50 kilometers (31 miles) from Quetta, forcing those attempting to carry out the burial to flee the graveyard along with the body, according to sources familiar with the situation.

In Islamabad, the national capital, an Islamic party senator, Abdul Shakoor Khan, while speaking in the upper house of parliament, expressed solidarity with the alleged killer. Khan vowed to help get him a lawyer for his legal battle.

“We will not tolerate anyone issuing blasphemous remarks against the Holy Prophet,” Khan added.

The killing of a blasphemy suspect while in custody “is unusual but highlights ongoing tensions related to religious offenses,” said advocacy group Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW).

The group stressed that the attack added to “a troubling pattern of violence” against blasphemy suspects in Pakistan.

CSW’s Founder President Mervyn Thomas told Worthy News that while his group “expresses its deepest condolences to the family of Abdul Ali,” his death raises concerns about Pakistan’s rule of law situation. “Regardless of the accusations against him, it was the duty of the police to protect him, and thus, it is extremely worrying that he was shot and killed while in custody. Who will ensure the safety of such victims when the police itself is involved in such acts of violence?“ he stressed.

SENSITIVE ISSUE

Blasphemy is a highly sensitive issue in majority-Muslim Pakistan, where mere allegations have led to mobs lynching scores of suspects, even some in police custody.

Insulting the Koran, deemed a holy book by Muslims, or Islamic beliefs is punishable by death under the country’s blasphemy laws, though in practice, suspects are languishing in jails, often for years.

Thursday’s killing of a blasphemy suspect in custody by a police officer, however, is the first known case of its kind in Pakistan, observers said.

“This attack has occurred at a time when the European Union’s special envoy for Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB) is on a mission to Pakistan. This incident further demonstrates the timeliness of this visit, and we call upon the EU to raise these concerns with the authorities and ensure that sufficient protections are provided to any person accused of blasphemy,” Thomas added.

He said the “EU Delegation was also right to say that engagement on FoRB challenges is important for Pakistan’s future re-application to the EU’s generous tariff concession for exports from Pakistan.”

The latest blasphemy violence occurred after, in early June, a 73-year-old Pakistani man from the minority Christian community died in a hospital a week after being violently attacked by a mob following blasphemy accusations in his native Sargodha district in central Punjab province.

PAKISTANI CHRISTIAN

“Pakistani Christian Lazar (Nazir) Masih passed away in the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) Rawalpindi in Punjab Province on June 3, just over a week after he was violently attacked by an extremist mob following an accusation of blasphemy,” CSW confirmed to Worthy News.

Days later, on June 20, a Muslim man from Punjab was visiting the scenic Swat Valley in the northwestern Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa when a mob violently lynched him for allegedly desecrating the Koran, CSW and other sources said.

Domestic and international rights groups have long sought reforms in the blasphemy laws, arguing they are often misused to settle personal vendettas or to target Pakistani minority communities.

Hundreds of suspects, including Christians, are behind bars in Pakistan as fear of retaliation from extremist Islamic groups deters judges from moving their trials forward, Christians say.

“The continued criminalization of blasphemy is wholly incompatible with Pakistan’s national and international commitments to freedom of religion or belief and a dangerous driver of religious extremism in the country,” CSW’s Thomas added.

“The government must take strict measures to hold those responsible for such acts to account and to curb the misuse of the blasphemy laws, with the aim to repeal these laws as a matter of urgency.”

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