An angry mob lynched a man over alleged discretion of the Holy Quran in the Swat district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in northwest Pakistan, said the police.
According to local media reports, the alleged suspect was taken into custody and brought to Madyan police station after some people in the local market reported a man committing blasphemy.
The mob set ablaze the police station, shot the man dead, dragged his body to Madyan Adda and hanged it there, said the DPO.
In this video now viral on social media, a Pakistani man can be seen burnt alive by a mob in #Swat Valley over #blasphemy allegations.
The identity of the man lynched by the mob has yet to be confirmed, however, some local media reports say that he was a tourist staying in a local hotel.
An angry mob lynched a man over alleged discretion of the Holy Quran in the Swat district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in northwest Pakistan, said the police.
The man, who was a tourist hailing from Sialkot district of Punjab, allegedly burnt some pages of Islam's holy book in Madyan tehsil of Swat on Thursday (June 20), said District Police Officer (DPO), Swat, Zahidullah.
According to local media reports, the alleged suspect was taken into custody and brought to Madyan police station after some people in the local market reported a man committing blasphemy. They nabbed him and handed him over to the police.
Following this, the crowd gathered outside the police station and demanded the victim be handed over.
The announcements made from mosques in Madyan further triggered the outrage and the crowd forced its way inside the police station to catch hold of the suspect.
The mob set ablaze the police station, shot the man dead, dragged his body to Madyan Adda and hanged it there, said the DPO.
However, a purported video of the incident that is doing rounds on social media claims that the man was burnt alive by the angry crowd.
At least eight people sustained injuries in the ensuing unrest triggered by the incident.
The Swat District Police Officer (DPO) was cited as saying, "People set fire to the police station and a police vehicle. The man was burnt alive."
Taha Siddiqui, a Pakistani journalist living in exile, shared the footage on X, commenting, "In this video now viral on social media, a Pakistani man can be seen burnt alive by a mob in #Swat Valley over #blasphemy allegations. The larger mob surrounding the body can be seen using cameras with flashlight to film the lynching. Welcome to #Pakistan - the Islamic republic." In this video now viral on social media, a Pakistani man can be seen burnt alive by a mob in #Swat Valley over #blasphemy allegations. The larger mob surrounding the body can be seen using cameras with flashlight to film the lynching. Welcome to #Pakistan - the Islamic republic: pic.twitter.com/k7lSlf5Ofn — Taha Siddiqui (@TahaSSiddiqui) June 21, 2024 ×
Barrister Sidra Qayyum also posted on X, emphasising the gravity of the situation, "In Swat Pakistan, the body of a tourist from Sialkot was killed and burnt later on the charge of blasphemy, and burning of the Holy Quran. The mob attacks police station and took over the accused. The situation is tense in the area and two people are reported injured in the market from police sources."
The identity of the man lynched by the mob has yet to be confirmed, however, some local media reports say that he was a tourist staying in a local hotel.
