Christian couple burned alive in Pakistan for allegedly desecrating Quran

[somnath]

ISLAMABAD: A married Christian couple was on Tuesday thrashed and burned alive by an angry mob in Pakistan's Punjab province for allegedly desecrating a copy of the Holy Quran.

The incident took place in Kot Radha Kishan town, about 60 kilometres southwest of Lahore city.

The victims, identified as Shama and Shehzad, were burned alive in a brick kiln where they used to work.

"A mob attacked a Christian couple after accusing them of desecration of the Holy Quran and later burnt their bodies in a brick kiln," a news agency quoted senior police official Bin-Yameen as saying.

"Yesterday an incident of desecration of the Holy Quran took place in the area and today the mob first beat the couple and later set their bodies on fire in a brick kiln," he added.

Blasphemy and the draconian laws dealing with it are highly sensitive issues in Pakistan, even the courts and legislators think twice before dwelling into the sensitivities of these issues.

The controversial blasphemy laws were formulated in the 1980s during the martial law regime of General Zia-ul-Haq. A conviction or merely an accusation of blasphemy can put one's life in danger. Even if one is acquitted, the fear of death at the hands of vigilantes remains.

A Christian woman, Aasia Bibi, has been on death row since November 2010 after she was found guilty of making blasphemous remarks about Prophet Muhammad during a quarrel with a Muslim woman. Two prominent politicians who were campaigning for the release of Aasia Bibi and reform of the law were ruthlessly murdered in Pakistan's capital. Ex Punjab governor, Salman Taseer, was shot dead in January 2011 by his own bodyguard while the then federal minister for minority affairs, Shahbaz Bhatti, was killed in March 2011.

Mumtaz Qadri, Taseer's murderer, currently lives comfortably in a special cell at Rawalpindi's Adiala Jail. No lawyer has come forward to prosecute the case and there is no one, even from amongst those who were present on the scene at the time of murder, ready to stand in the witness box against Qadri.

Christian couple burned alive in Pakistan for allegedly desecrating Quran - The Times of India

mashallah

 

[Nexus]

RIP to dead people

 

[Aepsilons]

What ? Is this for real?

 

[+4vsgorillas-Apebane]

What ? Is this for real?

Reality is often more absurd then fiction.

 

[Cat Shannon]

What ? Is this for real?

the killer qadri, check his status in jail out..he killed the minister who was fighting for the christian woman.

Mumtaz Qadri, Prison King
Rafia Zakaria
Updated Nov 01, 2014 12:19am

Prisons are parallels of the world in which they exist; its evils, its injustice, its inequities are all magnified and underscored in miniature and microcosm in the world behind bars.

The dark recesses of Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail constitute such a place where a Pakistan mired in lawlessness makes its pretenses of justice and punishment.

In this barred and locked up representation of the country, a condemned man is king, judge, arbiter of right and wrong.

Mumtaz Qadri is also a killer.

In 2011, employed as a guard, he gunned down Governor Punjab Salmaan Taseer. His victim’s crime, Qadri the killer proudly proclaimed while blood still stained his hands, was to visit and speak up for a poor, imprisoned Christian woman who had been accused of blasphemy.



Footprints: Mumtaz Qadri mosque, memorials to our misdeeds



That was three years ago, but from inside Adiala prison, Mumtaz Qadri continues to dole out death sentences, of which he is still sole judge and jury. So complete appears his control, so unquestioned his elevation to punisher rather than punished that it seems he can use the prison guards to carry out the punishments he decides must be doled out.

As an internal investigation revealed this week, Mohammad Yousuf, a guard who had been deployed to watch over Qadri became the latest tool with which this prison king wielded his wrath. In this case, it took just two weeks to wash over any qualms Yousuf may have had.

At the end of two weeks, Yousuf, a guard, and a member of the Elite Force walked into the barracks where blasphemy convict Mohammad Asghar and blasphemy accused Pastor Zafar Bhatti were being housed. They were his appointed targets. Once inside, Yousuf shot Asghar, a 70-year-old man with paranoid schizophrenia.

Frail and in ill health, Asghar was the perfect victim, easily vanquished. It was Asghar’s insanity that had landed him in prison; his senseless ramblings collected and provided as proof of blasphemy. In a country, without empathy, there is no room for insanity.

Also read: Sentencing a schizophrenic to death - and other Pakistan stories



Asghar lived despite being shot by Yousuf. There were reports that Pastor Zafar Bhatti had also been hurt, but the news from the darkness within the barracks where accused and convicted blasphemers are kept comes slowly and uncertainly.

What is known, and is clear is that Mumtaz Qadri rules in prison. It was not the first time he had incited an attack, goaded a guard to do his bidding.

The world in prison, where a blasphemy accused can be killed before trial, reflects the world outside.

According to the Center for Research and Strategic Studies in Islamabad, blasphemy cases are on the rise with vigilante mobs and armed assailants all meting out death sentences on the streets of Pakistan. This world beyond the prison walls is also Qadri’s world; caught in the same pangs of hatred that point, accuse, convict and kill without proof and without procedure.

While Qadri was busy coaching Yousuf to kill Asghar, Shakeel Auj, the Dean of Islamic Studies at Karachi University was gunned down by unknown assailants. He, too, had been harassed by allegations of blasphemy contoured to condemn for his dissent against extremism.

A few months before that in May, Rashid Rehman, a lawyer who had represented blasphemy victims in court was also killed.



Also read: Terror’s targets: The professor and the policeman



Between these tales of dead lawyers and scholars are the tales of property takings, business disagreements, vengeance and revenge, all lubricated by an allegation whose very mention is in Pakistan, a death sentence.

Mumtaz Qadri, the prison king, the arbiter of death sentences rules inside prison, but beyond the walls of Adiala is another prison, equally repressive, equally unable to deliver freedom or justice, ruled also by prison kings.

Mumtaz Qadri, Prison King - Blogs - DAWN.COM

 

[Aepsilons]

This is very disheartening to read. I hope justice will be given.

 

[gambit]

This is very disheartening to read. I hope justice will be given.

Not likely. A Christian is already a marked man/woman. Once the charge of desecrating the Quran is leveled, he/she is toast.

 

[Steakhouse]

Someone already posted this same article

 

[xyxmt]

Tum log zulm kartey raho aur Allah ka azab tum pe aata rahey ga.

As far as Indian posting this, please check your own house....this whole of sub-continent has become a gutter and cleaning this gutter will do the world a whole lot good

 

[T-Rex]

ISLAMABAD: A married Christian couple was on Tuesday thrashed and burned alive by an angry mob in Pakistan's Punjab province for allegedly desecrating a copy of the Holy Quran.

The incident took place in Kot Radha Kishan town, about 60 kilometres southwest of Lahore city.

The victims, identified as Shama and Shehzad, were burned alive in a brick kiln where they used to work.

"A mob attacked a Christian couple after accusing them of desecration of the Holy Quran and later burnt their bodies in a brick kiln," a news agency quoted senior police official Bin-Yameen as saying.

"Yesterday an incident of desecration of the Holy Quran took place in the area and today the mob first beat the couple and later set their bodies on fire in a brick kiln," he added.

Blasphemy and the draconian laws dealing with it are highly sensitive issues in Pakistan, even the courts and legislators think twice before dwelling into the sensitivities of these issues.

The controversial blasphemy laws were formulated in the 1980s during the martial law regime of General Zia-ul-Haq. A conviction or merely an accusation of blasphemy can put one's life in danger. Even if one is acquitted, the fear of death at the hands of vigilantes remains.

A Christian woman, Aasia Bibi, has been on death row since November 2010 after she was found guilty of making blasphemous remarks about Prophet Muhammad during a quarrel with a Muslim woman. Two prominent politicians who were campaigning for the release of Aasia Bibi and reform of the law were ruthlessly murdered in Pakistan's capital. Ex Punjab governor, Salman Taseer, was shot dead in January 2011 by his own bodyguard while the then federal minister for minority affairs, Shahbaz Bhatti, was killed in March 2011.

Mumtaz Qadri, Taseer's murderer, currently lives comfortably in a special cell at Rawalpindi's Adiala Jail. No lawyer has come forward to prosecute the case and there is no one, even from amongst those who were present on the scene at the time of murder, ready to stand in the witness box against Qadri.

Christian couple burned alive in Pakistan for allegedly desecrating Quran - The Times of India

mashallah

Pakistanis should not be acting like the indian Gujraatis. In the long run it's not beneficial. Those monstrous Hindu terrorists are responsible for spreading this culture of burning the minorities alive.

 

[HariPrasad]

"A mob attacked a Christian couple after accusing them of desecration of the Holy Quran and later burnt their bodies in a brick kiln," a news agency quoted senior police official Bin-Yameen as saying.

And they ultimately fulfill their Holy duty.

Pakistanis should not be acting like the indian Gujraatis. In the long run it's not beneficial. Those monstrous Hindu terrorists are responsible for spreading this culture of burning the minorities alive.

Which culture? Burning of Innocent women and children in Train?

 

[Pakistani E]

You who believe, show integrity for the sake of Allah, bearing witness with justice. Do not let hatred for a people incite you into not being just. Be just. That is closer to taqwa. Fear [and respect] Allah. Allah is aware of what you do. (Surat al-Maida, 8)

Pakistani Sarkari Muslims are the biggest blasphemers, they disregard the Qur'anic verses that do not fit with their bigoted narrative, but are so eager to commit violence and injustice. Then they wonder why they are under azab?

 

[T-Rex]

Which culture? Burning of Innocent women and children in Train?

You know, Hindu terrorists do not burn women and children on a train, they rape them on trains and buses and pass themselves as ISI agents. They burn them (Muslin women and children) alive at their homes.

 

[HariPrasad]

You know, Hindu terrorists do not burn women and children on a train,

Yes, That was done by some holi people like they did with christian couple.

 

[Gibbs]

WTF??!!??.. This is really disheartening.. What is happening to the Pakistani society ?