GUJRAT: A police officer on Wednesday night murdered a detained man with an axe, later alleging that the man had committed blasphemy.
45-year-old Jhang resident Syed Tufail Haider was arrested a day earlier for wounding two people from a locality in Gujrat. According to police authorities, Tufail came to Madina Syedan in Gujrat three days ago to attend a majlis.
During interrogation, Assistant Superintendent (ASI) Faraz Naveed got into a heated argument with Tufail and struck him on the neck with an axe lying in the room, a blow which resulted in immediate death.
He later accused Tufail of making derogatory remarks against companions of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), with other police officials saying the arrested man was mentally unsound.
Police have arrested ASI Faraz Naveed and taken the axe into custody. The body of the slain man has been sent to a local hospital for a postmortem.
Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif has taken notice of Tufail Haider's murder and has ordered a further investigation of the incident.
More on this: Blasphemy law use on rise, led by Pakistan
The latest incident comes two days after a Christian couple was burnt to death in a brick kiln in Kot Radha Kishan for allegedly desecrating pages of the Holy Quran. The woman, mother of three, was pregnant. The incident provoked condemnation from the government with the prime minister saying the government will bring to book those responsible.
Blasphemy is a hugely sensitive issue in the country, with even unproven allegations often prompting mob violence. Anyone convicted, or even just accused, of insulting Islam, risks a violent and bloody death at the hands of vigilantes.
A Christian woman, Aasia Bibi, has been on death row since November 2010 after she was found guilty of making derogatory remarks about Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) during an argument with a Muslim woman.
An elderly British man with severe mental illness, sentenced to death for blasphemy in January, was shot by a prison guard last month.
Also read: A chilling episode of mob violence
Gujrat policeman kills man in custody alleging blasphemy - Pakistan - DAWN.COM
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LAHORE: A policeman used an axe to kill a man arrested for allegedly committing blasphemy, officials said Thursday, days after an enraged mob murdered a Christian coupleaccused of the same crime.
Tufail Haider, a 50-year-old from the minority Shia sect, was arrested for allegedly making derogatory remarks toward the companions of the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) and brought to the Civil Lines police station in the eastern city of Gujrat on Wednesday.
“Tufail was kept in the lock-up but he continued uttering derogatory remarks and hurled abuse at policemen. He looked like a malang (wandering preacher) and seemed mentally imbalanced,” duty officer Ali Raza told AFP.
“Assistant Sub-Inspector Faraz Naveed, 36, became very angry on hearing the derogatory remarks against the companions of the Prophet (PBUH) and he killed the detainee with an axe in the lock up,” he added.
Naveed has been arrested and legal proceedings have been started against him, he added.
Around 1,000 Shias have been killed in the past two years in Pakistan, a heavy toll on the community that makes up roughly 20 per cent of the country’s 180 million-strong population, most of whom are Muslim.
There has been a recent surge in extra-judicial killings linked to Pakistan’s blasphemy laws.
A Christian bonded labourer and his pregnant wife were killed Tuesday for alleged desecrating pages of the Holy Quran in the eastern village of Chak 59, sparking
condemnation from Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
A Christian woman, Aasia Bibi, who has been on death row since November 2010 after she was found guilty of making derogatory remarks about Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) during an argument with a Muslim woman
lost an appeal last month.
The latest incident also has shades of the
shooting in September of an elderly British man with severe mental illness, who was sentenced to death for blasphemy in January.
An internal investigation has found that the guard had been
radicalised and goaded into the shooting by Mumtaz Qadri, a police bodyguard who murdered the Punjab governor in 2011 for suggesting reform of the blasphemy laws.
In Gujrat alone, three persons have been killed on the account of police torture.
Just last month, an individual on a
Rawalpindi-bound train was beaten to death by police after a fight broke out between him and another passenger.
While on October 4, police allegedly
tortured a woman to death during a raid in Sargodha.
Policeman uses axe to kill blasphemy accused: officials – The Express Tribune