Warbartan Blasphemy Killing In Pakistan: Ulema, Police and Media Pass It Off As A New Normal

By New Age Islam Staff Writer 6 March 2023 A Man Was Lynched For Alleged Desecration of the Quran In Warbartan, Pakistan Two Weeks Ago Main Points: 1. The Ulema condemned the killing. 2. Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif took 'serious note' of it. 3. The police has formed an inquiry committee to probe the incident. 4. The SHO has been suspended. 5. The media held debates on the incident and on blasphemy as usual. 6. 50 persons have been arrested. ------ A man gestures toward the house of Waris, a blasphemy suspect who was lunched by an angry mob, in Warburton, an area of district Nankana, Pakistan, Sunday, Feb. 12, 2023. | Photo Credit: AP ------ In Mid-February, another report of mob lynching of a person (a Muslim) for alleged desecration of the holy Quran came from a small town called Warbartan in the district of Nankana Saheb in Pakistan. The victim, Mohammad Waris, was dragged out of the local police station by an angry mob and beaten up badly by iron rods. Before lynching him, the mob stripped him naked. After his death, the mob tried to set him on fire. The allegation is that he desecrated the holy Quran. According to reports, the man was performing some objectionable act with the Quran with his former wife's photograph in his house. Someone secretly photographed the act and circulated it among the people of the locality. Soon the word of the desecration of the Quran spread in the area. Someone made the announcement of the incident from the loudspeaker of the mosque. The police arrived and took him to the police station. But an angry mob gathered at the police station and demanded the custody of the man. Inna short time, a huge mob gathered there and entered the room where the victim was lodged. The angry mob dragged the man out of the police station and stripped him naked. They beat him with sticks and iron rods till he died. After his death, the mob tried to set him on fire. The SHO and all the policemen fled from the police station. The man had not committed the alleged blasphemy in public but he was performing some magical acts on his former wife with the help of the Quran out of his ignorance. He was perhaps trying to harm his former wife who had left her or taken divorce. Such superstitious acts are common in Pakistan and India. Some people in Pakistan sit in open graves with Quran and recite it to invoke evil forces to harm their enemies or to get desired benefits. The intent is not to desecrate the Quran as they are Muslims. Mohammad Waris was probably also one of the ignorant people who used the Quran to invoke evil forces against his former wife. And he was doing this inside his home. But some 'peeping Tom' secretly photographed him, violating the injunction of the Quran itself. In fact, the person who photographed or filmed the act secretly committed blasphemy by violating the injunction of the Quran that asks Muslims not to spy on others. Doing so is a grave sin. In Pakistan, desecrating the Quran or blasphemy against the prophet pbuh is an unpardonable crime. This is the narrative that has been propagated so widely that once a person is blamed for such act is not given any opportunity to give clarification or show repentance or remorse. Once blasphemy has been committed cannot be undone and the only punishment is death on the spot. According to this narrative, the police, the judiciary and the laws of the country apply only on all other issues except blasphemy. Once blasphemy is reported, the people will decide the fate of the accused. The police has to leave the scene. In the video of the mob gathered at the police station, some people are seen in skull caps and turbans. It shows that along with hooligans, people with religious affiliations were also present there. The accused was killed in a ghastly manner. He was first dragged out of the police station and then and stripped before being lynched. Acording to the police, the accused had been booked under a similar charge and had been released from jail after two years. After the lynching, the state of Pakistan reacted in a routine way. The Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif said the culprits should be dealt with an iron hand. According to a TV channel anchor, the Ulema condemned the lynching. The police arrested 50 people and an inquiry committee was formed. However, the TV channel did not elaborate on the grounds of condemnation by the Ulema. Did they condemn the lynching because they do not believe in death for blasphemy? Or did they condemn it because the mob stripped the man before lynching? Or did they condemn it because they only prescribed ' Sar Tan Se Juda ' (slitting the throat) punishment for blasphemy? The fact is that this routine condemnation is a hogwash. In Pakistan, almost all the sects of Sunni Muslims unanimously believe that even a Muslim can be punished for blasphemy. And the only punishment for blasphemy is death. So why did they condemn it? The social and political analysts and some liberal clerics also differ on the trend of mob lynching in Pakistan. Tahir Malik says that religion has nothing to do with mob lynching. He cites the statistics of a certain survey of Pakistanis which shows that 75 per cent of Pakistanis suffer from depression and psychological disorders. People do not lynch only persons accused of blasphemy, they lynch men and boys acused of theft also. He cited a couple of examples in support of his argument. But a renowned televangelist Engineer Mohammad Ali Mirza disagrees. He is of the opinion that religious fanaticism is the root cause of the mob violence over blasphemy. He also says that the condemnation by the Ulema is only a sham. They use ambiguous words while condemning such incidents. He says that those who condemn such incidents only prepare such boys with violent ideology. Tahir Malik and Engineer Mohammad Ali Mirza both are correct from different perspectives. The culture of mob violence is common in Pakistan. In the past hungry men have been lynched by the mob for stealing food from shops. Punishing a thief is not the responsibility of the people. Once a man was lynched by the mob because he had snatched a pizza from a man who had just come out of the pizza shop with a pizza in hand. The snatcher was hungry for two days. But the mob lynched him instead of defending him or arranging food for him. A boy who was accused of stealing food from a shop was beaten and paraded in the market though the boy denied stealing. His father arrived on the scene and freed him. But the boy said to his parents that now the people would call him a thief all his life. Next day he was found dead in the nearby river. So once the mob culture was promoted, it can be used for religious issues as well. Mullahs announce from the loudspeakers that a man has committed blasphemy and the mob sets out to kill someone and get rewards in the Hereafter. Engineer Mohammad Ali Mirza said that the only solution of the mob violence in the name of blasphemy is formulating a counter- narrative on blasphemy. The law should take its own course but the problem here is that even if the accused is acquitted from the court, he is killed extra-judicially. He said that in any blasphemy case, all the judicial processes should be followed and people do not have any right to punish an individual, whatever be the crime. But unfortunately, such sane voices are rare in today’s Pakistan. 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