Report on Bahawalpur July 4 2012

The incident highlighted the highly charged nature of Pakistan’s blasphemy laws, under which anyone found guilty of insulting Islam’s Prophet or the Quran can be sentenced to death whether by the law, police or by the civilians.
The incidence occurred on Tuesday in Bahawalpur, a city in a deeply conservative part of central Pakistan; attackers stormed a police station where the man was being interrogated. The victim seemed to be mentally unstable. He was arrested after residents said he threw pages of the Quran into the street.

While the man was being questioned, some people started making announcements over mosque loudspeakers, urging residents to go to the police station and punish him.

Within hours, thousands gathered outside and demanded the man be handed over to them. The police tried to protect him, but the mob turned violent.
They burned several police vehicles and wounded seven officers before grabbing the man and dragging him into the street, where he was beaten to death and his body set on fire. The mob also attacked the house of an area police chief and burned his furniture and possessions.
Ghulam Abbas was a muslim and was mentally retarded person who did not even know his name. We wonder whether if he knew what religion is.
Police couldn’t stand up to the furious and violent crowd who got hold of the alleged blasphemer, dragged and brutally tortured him.
Some officers fired tear gas canisters to disperse the mob – but the emotionally charged people refused to hand over the alleged blasphemer and instead turned against the police officers, Nine police officers, including SHO Gujjar and DSP Rana Naveed Mumtaz, were injured while trying – though unsuccessfully – to rescue the man.
Pakistani Christians live in fear of being arrested under the blasphemy laws, which critics say are often misused to settle personal scores or family feuds.
Efforts to change the laws have made little headway. Last year, two prominent Pakistani political figures who spoke out against the blasphemy laws were killed in attacks that raised concerns about the rise of religious extremism in Pakistan.
The Voice team visited the place of occurrence, met the police officers and gathered all the facts about the incidence, and is pray full that may God protect our Christian brothers and sisters in Christ in Pakistan wherever they are.

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