Tags: pakistan police killed blasphemy suspect shootout

Police Fatally Shoot Blasphemy Suspect in Pakistan in 2nd Such Killing in a Week

Thursday, 19 September 2024 01:01 PM EDT

Police in southern Pakistan shot dead a blasphemy suspect during an alleged shootout with armed men, officials said Thursday, the second such apparent extra-judicial killing in a week, drawing strong condemnation from human rights groups.

Police identified the slain man as Shah Nawaz, a medical doctor in the Umerkot district in the Sindh province, who had gone into hiding two days ago after being accused of insulting Islam’s Prophet Muhammad and sharing blasphemous content on social media.

Local police chief Niaz Khoso insisted that Nawaz was “killed just by chance” on Wednesday night when officers signaled two men riding on a motorcycle to stop in Mirpur Khas, a city in the southern Sindh province.

He said instead of stopping, the men opened fire and tried to flee, prompting police to return fire.

He said one of the suspects fled on the motorcycle, while the other was killed.

Khoso claimed that it was only after the shootout that officers learned that the slain man was the doctor being sought by them for the alleged blasphemy.

The killing of Nawaz drew strong condemnation from the country’s independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan or HRCH, which said it was “gravely concerned by the alleged extrajudicial killing of two people accused of blasphemy.

“This pattern of violence in cases of blasphemy, in which law enforcement personnel are allegedly involved, is an alarming trend,” it said in a statement. HRCP also asked the government to conduct an independent inquiry to ascertain who was responsible for Nawaz’s death and ensure those responsible for it were punished.

The killing of Nawaz in Mirpur Khas came a day after Islamists in a nearby city, Umerkot, staged a protest, demanding his arrest. The mob also burned Nawaz's clinic on Wednesday, local officials said.

The latest killing comes a week after an officer opened fire inside a police station in the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta, fatally wounding Syed Khan, another suspect held on accusations of blasphemy. Khan was arrested on Wednesday after officers rescued him from an enraged mob that claimed he had insulted Islam’s Prophet.

But he was killed by a police officer, Mohammad Khurram, who was quickly arrested.

However, the tribe and the family of the slain man said they pardoned the officer, saying that Khan hurt the sentiments of Muslims by insulting Islam's Holy Prophet Muhammad.

Though killings of blasphemy suspects by mobs are common, the extra-judicial killings by police are rare in Pakistan, where accusations of blasphemy — sometimes even just rumors — often spark rioting and rampage by mobs that can escalate into lynchings.

Under Pakistan’s controversial blasphemy laws, anyone found guilty of insulting Islam or Islamic religious figures can be sentenced to death — though authorities have yet to carry out a death sentence for blasphemy.

Pakistan has witnessed a surge in attacks on blasphemy suspects in recent years.

In June, a mob broke into a police station in the northwestern town of Madyan, snatched a detainee who was a tourist, and then lynched him over allegations that he had desecrated Islam’s holy book, the Quran.

Last year, a mob in the eastern Punjab province attacked churches and homes of Christians after claiming they saw a local Christian and his friend desecrating pages from a Quran. The attack in the district of Jaranwala drew nationwide condemnation, but Christians say the men linked to the violence are yet to be put on trial.

____

Ahmed reported from Islamabad. Associated Press writer Asim Tanveer contributed to the story from Multan, Pakistan.

Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.


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Police in southern Pakistan shot dead a blasphemy suspect during an alleged shootout with armed men, officials said Thursday, the second such apparent extrajudicial killing in a week, drawing strong condemnation from human rights groups. Police identified the slain man as...
pakistan police killed blasphemy suspect shootout
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2024-01-19
Thursday, 19 September 2024 01:01 PM
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