LAHORE – Renowned religious scholar Maulana Tariq Jamil expressed grief at the lynching of a man who was stoned to death in the latest case of blasphemy-related violence.
Jamil while condemning the incident said no one except the court had the right to punish any citizen under Sharia – legal practice derived from Islamic teachings.
The Tableeghi Jamaat scholar termed the incident as cruelty and ignorance. Last year in December, the noted scholar also condemned the lynching of Sri Lankan national, Priyantha Kumar, who was killed by a charged mob in Sialkot.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister aide on Interfaith Harmony Hafiz Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi also condemned the deplorable incident saying all persons involved in the incident would be brought to justice. It is the jurisdiction of the state to punish any culprit after completing the legal procedure, he said.
On Saturday, a mob killed Mushtaq Ahmed for allegedly desecrating the Holy Quran in central Pakistan. More than 100 people have been arrested in connection with the killing on Saturday in the district of Khanewal in Punjab province.
Prime Minister Imran Khan said the case would be “dealt with the full severity of the law” and asked for a report on police officers accused of failing their duty to save the man. Our government had “zero tolerance for anyone taking the law into their own hands, he said.
The killing comes on the heels of Sialkot incident in which a Sri Lankan factory manager was beaten to death and set ablaze by a mob over blasphemy, also in Punjab province.
