ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Planning Ahsan Iqbal strongly condemned the lynching of a man in Swat, lamenting how religion is being misused to justify street justice.
He said that a special committee should be constituted to investigate the incident and for framing a National Plan of Action aimed at ensuring rule of law in the country.
Speaking on the floor of the National Assembly on Saturday, the minister said that the Parliament should take stern notice of “mob justice”, as it has brought Pakistan to the brink of destruction.
According to a media report, Muhammad Ismail, a 40-year-old resident of Sialkot in Punjab province, was visiting Swat town and was accused of having burnt the pages of the Holy Quran in Madyan tehsil of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.
“A man was killed by a mob over alleged desecration of the Holy Quran in the Madyan area of Swat district on Thursday night. Eight people were injured in the unrest,” the minister said.
He said that the police had moved the suspect of the alleged desecration incident to the police station, a police official said, but a charged mob attacked the police station and took the suspect away.
Amid interjections by the PPP deputy speaker, Ahsan maintained that Parliament should take stern notice of mob justice, as it brought Pakistan to the brink of destruction.
“Another mob lynching has happened in Swat and Pakistan is under scrutiny for it,” he said.
Referring to incidents where those accused of desecration were lynched by vigilante mobs, the Minister said that if this was an isolated incident we could move past it, but similar incidents have happened in Sialkot, Jaranwala and Sargodha.
He also referred to an attempt on his life in 2018, where he was shot by a supporter of the religio-political party Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan. “I am grateful that I got a new lease on life after an extremist shot me,” he said. “Even now the bullet is in my body.”
“We must take notice of this incident as our nation is on the brink. We have now reached a point where we are using religion to justify mob violence and street justice, flagrantly violating the Constitution, the law and the state,” he said.
He added that in Islam, even the bodies of heretics must be shown respect, further stating that it is forbidden to burn bodies. “Not only are mobs killing people, but they are setting the bodies on fire and making a spectacle out of it. It’s shameful.”
He said, “What are we showing the world with this? We need to think about where we stand in the world […] are we a backward country. If we do not take notice of this, we will fall into anarchy.”
He concluded his address by demanding that a committee be formed to probe these incidents. “It is the ulema’s responsibility to understand how religion has been weaponised to justify mob violence. There must be a committee in place to tackle these incidents so we can be a civilised country,” he said.
Before adjourning the session, Deputy Speaker Shah said that as a member of the cabinet, Ahsan should confer with Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi and work with him to form the committee. “You should coordinate with your colleague and bring these issues to the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa chief minister’s notice,” he said.
“Please bring this up at the cabinet level and not here,” the Deputy Speaker said.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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