PM Imran Khan on Sunday said the culprits involved in the lynching of a man over blasphemy allegations in Mian Channu will be “dealt with [the] full severity of the law” along with police officials who “failed in their duty”.
The tweet by the PM came a day after a mob brutally lynched a mentally challenged man in the Khanewal district over the alleged desecration of the Holy Quran.
The deceased was tortured and slain over accusations of burning pages of the Holy Quran.
As per details, the local police, in order to prevent themselves, had allegedly allowed the accused to leave the police station in Mian Chunnu where the mob was present.
Imran said the government has “zero tolerance” for such incidents and that he has asked the Punjab Police chief to take action against the “perpetrators of the lynching in Mina Channu and against the police [officials] who failed in their duty”.
Meanwhile, the police have taken 62 accused, including the prime accused, into custody along registering a case under terrorism charges against more than 300 suspects.
In an initial report submitted to the Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar, Punjab IG Rao Sardar said a terrorism case was registered against 300 unknown suspects whereas 33 persons were nominated in the case as well.
It said the police made 120 raids and detained 62 suspects, adding that the detained accused also included the prime suspects. The police will conduct forensic analysis of available footage to identify more suspects.
The arrests made through secret operations came after the directives of the Punjab CM and IG. Police are making raids to arrest more suspects, as per the report.
CM Buzdar said the government will provide justice in the case as no one can be allowed to take the law into their hands.
This is not the first incident of citizens becoming judges, jury and executioners. In November last year, a mob had vandalised a police station in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s Charsadda district and set it on fire after authorities refused to hand over a man arrested earlier for allegedly desecrating the Holy Quran.
A month after, a Sri Lankan national was brutally lynched and his body was set on fire by a mob in Sialkot
The gut-wrenching incident took place on Sialkot’s Wazirabad Road, where workers of private factories brutally lynched the Sri Lankan national, Priyantha Kumara, over alleged blasphemy.
