Mobs and minorities

For minority communities in the country life appears to be becoming more and more precarious. They have been subjected to mob attacks before, on residential localities in Lahore, Gojra and other places, which have affected scores of people. Another such dastardly attack took place on November 4 at a brick-kiln at Kot Radha Kishan, about 60 kilometres southwest of Lahore, where a Christian couple was first beaten to death by a mob, which had accused it of desecrating the Holy Quran, and their bodies then burnt at the same kiln where they laboured. There are few details available about the gory incident, which has been confirmed by the local police.

As news of the latest deaths stemming from blasphemy accusations made the news, the Punjab chief minister has set up a three-person panel to inquire into the sequence of events. So far, 44 suspects have been arrested and cases have been filed against 468 others. However, the committee must also examine the matter of why the police were unable to prevent the incident or hold back the mob, which killed the couple. The murders could not, of course, have happened instantaneously. There should have been sufficient time for the police to move in. Why they did not do so is something we need to know — especially as we have seen similar inaction before. This is especially true in blasphemy cases, where mobs or religious zealots so often take matters into their own hands before the law can take its course. Minority groups, less able to defend themselves and more vulnerable to false charges of blasphemy, are often the worst victims.

The poor Christian couple met a terrible end. We do not as yet know, in the absence of any judicial process, if they were guilty of any offence at all. We do know that blasphemy laws in the country have been frequently misused. An end to this pattern can occur only if the police and local administrations show greater vigilance and more willingness to protect citizens, who after all, must be assumed to be innocent until proven guilty. In the latest case, as in others before it, they were granted no opportunity to protect themselves, or tell their side of the story, that ended so tragically at that brick-kiln.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 6^th, 2014.

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