Lahore [Pakistan], June 23 : The Chairman of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) Asad Iqbal Butt, demanded the federal government of Pakistan take considerable and immediate action to prevent future mob killing or lynching incidents.
The HRCP statement, while referencing the recent mob killing incident in Swat, Pakistan, stated that the brutal killing by the mob, along with a similar incident a month earlier, shows that the state is failing to prevent violence in the name of religion.
"According to reports, the deceased had denied the charge of desecrating the Holy Quran while in police custody. The brutality with which the victim was killed, the violent display of self-righteous piety on the part of the mob, and the occurrence of two such incidents in less than a month (after the killing of Nazir Masih in Sargodha) clearly show that the state has cases of inciting violence in the name of faith, it has compromised its commitment, either intentionally or for other reasons," said HRCP
Calling such an incident unjust, the HRCP chairman stated that these incidents were a result of hatred bred because of nurturing extremism.
According to his statement on 'X' "Such incidents are no longer just a matter of some bad laws that can easily be used as weapons in the name of blasphemy. Rather, they are a direct result of decades of policy of pandering to and nurturing far-right groups and extremism."
https://x.com/hrcp87/status/1804578430970659121?s=46&t=nbusnwoIYo9hUrDuoWfhwQ
The statement further mentioned, "The state is directly complicit in this crime: it has given free rein to people who perpetrate violence in the name of faith, and in such cases, where decisive action is called for, it gets away with it. Mob killings are now limited to violence in the name of faith. In at least three incidents in Karachi since March, mobs have seized suspected criminals and tortured them to death. These situations indicate deterioration in law and order, severe mistrust of the people's criminal justice system and frustration with the economic and social conditions."
The HRCP also referenced the Pakistani parliament not giving any consideration to a proposal to form a committee to investigate incidents when civilians took the law into their own hands.
According to the HRCP statement, "It is a matter of regret that the House did not consider the proposal to form a committee of the National Assembly to investigate the general practice of taking the law into one's hands. This proposal should be presented again in the House and a committee should be formed immediately to resolve this issue."
Further, the organisation also mentions that to solve this problem, Parliament needs to strongly oppose fundamentalism, hate content, and violence in the name of religion, putting aside political differences.
The statement added "Now, at this stage, we can only get rid of this problem if the Parliament shows its firm commitment against fundamentalism, hate content and violence in the name of faith, above all political affiliations and ideologies. In this regard, the weak role of the Islamic Ideological Council has also come under the observation of the HRCP. The Council is requested to make every possible effort to eradicate the tendency of the society to take law into its hands in the name of faith," HRCP said on X.
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