Pakistan’s blasphemy laws are all too often manipulated and misused in order to victimize Christians and other religious minorities, and leave them with no recourse before unsympathetic or complicit police authorities.
“Police Suspected of Killing another Blasphemy Suspect in Pakistan,” Morning Star News, September 23, 2024:
LAHORE, Pakistan (Christian Daily International–Morning Star News) – A week after police in Pakistan allegedly killed a Muslim accused of blasphemy, Muslims celebrated the murder of another blasphemy suspect by bestowing garlands on police suspected of killing him, sources said. The killing of a Muslim doctor in Sindh Province on Thursday (Sept. 19) after he was charged with blasphemy the previous day followed the murder of Abdul Ali in Quetta, Balochistan Province on Sept. 12, shocking rights advocates, Christians and other religious minorities vulnerable to vigilante attacks rooted in Pakistan’s widely condemned blasphemy laws. The Muslim doctor slain in Sindh Province, Shah Nawaz Kumhbar, was accused of disrespecting Islam’s prophet, Muhammad, on Wednesday (Sept. 18) by Umerkot police, who registered a case against him under Section 295-C of the blasphemy laws, which carries a mandatory death sentence for convicts. Accused of posting disparaging content on social media, Kumhbar had posted a video on Wednesday (Sept. 18) saying his account had been hacked and that he could not imagine disrespecting Muhammad. Islamist groups had demanded the arrest of the doctor, who was said to suffer a mental disorder, and they mounted protests and burned a police van during demonstrations. Circumstances of Kumbhar’s death were unclear. Police claimed he was riding a motorcycle with a colleague on Thursday (Sept. 19) when he was stopped at a checkpoint and opened fire on the officers, resulting in a shootout in which he was killed. After rights organizations raised suspicions about that account, however, police changed their statement, saying he was shot dead by the colleague who then fled scene. Local media, however, reported that Kumbhar had escaped to Karachi after allegations against him surfaced, and that Umerkot police arrested him and brought him to Mirpur Khas District, where Sindhri police allegedly killed him in an “encounter.” Police denied arresting Kumbhar from Karachi. A video that now suspended Mirpur Khas Deputy Inspector General Javed Jiskani posted on social media shows leaders of an Islamist group garlanding him with flowers after the killing of Kumbhar. “When police officers start acting like vigilantes, there’s no hope left for justice,” attorney Lazar Allah Rakha told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News….
