Pakistani police have detained forty-three people believed to have taken part in a mob killing of a Christian couple who allegedly damaged a Koran. According to several reports, the couple was beaten to death by a hundreds-strong mob, who were enraged after hearing that their religion had apparently been insulted.
About 200 or so in the small Christian community of Lahore, Pakistan, took to the streets in hopes to raise awareness towards the country’s poor treatment of Christians. Some signs held by the protesters read, “Christian carnage in the name of blasphemy should be stopped” and “the government has failed to give protection to minorities,” the BBC reported.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif recognized the need for more acceptable law enforcement practices, calling the mob-killing an “unacceptable crime.” He added, “a responsible state cannot tolerate mob rule and public lynching with impunity. The Pakistani state has to act proactively to protect its minorities from violence and injustice.”
Even Pakistan’s Muslim community isn’t free from danger when accused of having “insulted” the country’s dominant religion.
On Thursday, a police officer hacked to death an individual who allegedly “insulted the Prophet” during an interrogation. The victim, Syed Tufali Haider, got into an argument with officers before hurling an insult about Mohamed. What the Daily Mail describe as a “senior Police Officer” then reportedly struck the detainee in the neck with an axe, which caused immediate death.
“Assistant Sub-Inspector Faraz Naveed, 36, became very angry on hearing the derogatory remarks against the companions of the Prophet and he killed the detainee with an axe in the lock up,” said an officer regarding the incident.
A recent Pew poll showed that 75 percent of Pakistanis believe: “Blasphemy laws are necessary to protect Islam in our country.” Pakistan’s blasphemy laws entail that insulting the prophet is punishable by death.
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