LAHORE: A middle-aged man was stoned to death by a mob over alleged desecration of the Holy Quran in a remote village of Khanewal district on Saturday.

The killing comes on the heels of an identical incident in Sialkot, where a Sri Lan­kan engineer was lynched by factory workers on Dec 3 last year on blasphemy charges.

The Saturday incident took place in Jungle Dera village where hundreds of loc­als gathered after Magh­rib pra­yers following annou­n­cements that a man had torn some pages of the Holy Quran and later set them on fire.

With no one ready to listen to the suspect, who rep­orte­dly claimed innocence, the villagers first hanged him with a tree and then hit him with bricks, until he died.

According to an eyewitness, a police team which reached the village well before stoning arrested the suspect but the growing mob snatched him from the SHO’s custody. Chief Minis­ter Usman Buzdar sought a report from IGP Rao Sardar Ali Khan.

Published in Dawn, February 13th, 2022

Opinion

Editorial

Wheat price crash
Updated 20 May, 2024

Wheat price crash

What the government has done to Punjab’s smallholder wheat growers by staying out of the market amid crashing prices is deplorable.
Afghan corruption
20 May, 2024

Afghan corruption

AMONGST the reasons that the Afghan Taliban marched into Kabul in August 2021 without any resistance to speak of ...
Volleyball triumph
20 May, 2024

Volleyball triumph

IN the last week, while Pakistan’s cricket team savoured a come-from-behind T20 series victory against Ireland,...
Border clashes
19 May, 2024

Border clashes

THE Pakistan-Afghanistan frontier has witnessed another series of flare-ups, this time in the Kurram tribal district...
Penalising the dutiful
19 May, 2024

Penalising the dutiful

DOES the government feel no remorse in burdening honest citizens with the cost of its own ineptitude? With the ...
Students in Kyrgyzstan
Updated 19 May, 2024

Students in Kyrgyzstan

The govt ought to take a direct approach comprising convincing communication with the students and Kyrgyz authorities.