‘There is no rule of law’: How a mob in Pakistan killed a man arrested for blasphemy

Issued on: 15/02/2023 – 16:17

The horrific footage shows a heaving mob dragging a man through the streets, beating him mercilessly. The video, circulating on social media, documents the most recent case of a mob killing someone accused of blasphemy in Pakistan. 

On February 11, 2023, Muhammad Warris was held at a police station in the province of Punjab after being arrested on suspicion of blasphemy. In Pakistan, blasphemy is a serious offence – you can be sentenced to death for the crime. 

You can see the police station here on Google Earth. There are also images of the station on its Facebook page.

Several media outlets reported that Warris, who is in his thirties, was arrested after allegedly tearing several pages of the Quran, the Muslim holy book. 

However, our Observer says that isn’t the real story. Naveed Walter runs an NGO called Human Rights Focus Pakistan (HRFP), which documents and fights against discrimination against members of religious minorities in the country, who are often accused of blasphemy.

‘A family member plotted to accuse Warris of blasphemy, provoking some religious fanatics’ 

His team gathered testimonies about what happened in Warburton both on the ground and via their telephone line. They found out that the whole thing started began not because of blasphemy, but because of some family debt. 

Muhammad Warris had in fact lent money to a family member. But when the family member could not pay him back, according to the testimonies, the family member then plotted to accuse Warris of blasphemy, provoking some religious fanatics.

While in custody for blasphemy at the police station, the accusers provoked people from the mosques and other places. The mob gathered there and they attacked the police station. During the attack, the police ran away; they fled.  The people, armed with wooden sticks and iron bars, broke the gate of the police station. They dragged him out of the police station onto the road and beat him to death.

Several videos circulated online showing the horrific death that Muhammad Warris suffered. We decided not to share the videos, because of the brutal violence shown. Instead, we only shared screengrabs to document the violence of the mob.

When you look at many of these videos, you can see many people filming the scene. Our Observer says he isn’t surprised:  

The people who took videos in the mob actually validate what’s going on. They make videos as a lesson to other people. Some people even took selfies in a previous blasphemy case where a man was burned alive. Other people take videos as evidence, for journalists or human rights organisations. 

‘When mobs attack, most of the time the police do not interfere’

There have been a number of cases where mobs have killed people accused of blasphemy.  Our Observer says that religious extremists, especially members of the radical Islamist party Tehreek-e-Labbaik, have encouraged these murders. 

Our team wrote about a case in December 2021 when a mob chanting ‘Tehreek-e-Labbaik’ murdered a Sri Lankan man accused of blasphemy in Pakistan. 

>> Read more on The Observers: Extremist party supporters beat and burn Sri Lankan man in Pakistan’s latest blasphemy killing

There has been a rise in the number of people accused of blasphemy, which is often used as a way to persecute religious minorities, according to a report published in early February 2023 by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, an independent organisation based in Lahore.

Our Observer says that things won’t get any better as long as the authorities fail to act. In Pakistan, something as minor as rumours or spite might result in a person being accused of blasphemy. 

There are several cases where we observed that the basis of the case was personal. They’re using the blasphemy laws as an excuse to kill someone or take revenge. 

And when mobs attack, most of the time the police do not interfere. The police need to have  capacity to tackle the issue. And the government of Pakistan has not made any strategy, they just report the incidents. There is no strategy, no mechanism, no rule of law.

Pakistani prime minister Shabaz Sharif has called for an opening of an investigation into the killing.