Blasphemy suspect shot dead inside police station

Mob sets police station, vehicles on fire in Madyan hill resort

MADYAN:

An enraged mob in the hill resort of Madyan in the Swat district on Thursday gunned down a tourist inside a police station on allegations of committing blasphemy and dragged his body through the town and hanged him.

The mob also torched the police station, forcing the cops on duty to flee for their lives. They also torched the police vehicles parked there. More police force was called to restore order in the popular tourist destination.

The suspect, later identified as Muhammad Ismail, son of Qamar Aziz, a resident of Sialkot, Punjab, was staying in a local hotel as a tourist. According to the local residents, some people in the town’s market had alleged that Ismail had committed desecration of the Holy Quran.

On the blasphemy allegation, some people caught the suspect and handed him over to the police. The Madyan police took him into custody and locked him up in the police station. The incident was announced from mosques through loudspeakers in the bazaar.

Later, thousands of angry people gathered outside the Madyan police station and demanded that the police hand over the suspect to them. On refusal, a fierce exchange of fire took place between the local people and the police in which one person was injured and shifted to the Madyan Hospital.

Later, the people entered the police station and shot and killed the suspect and dragged his body to the Madyan Ada, where they hanged him. The people also set the police station and police vehicles on fire, while the policemen on duty fled. Meanwhile, more police force was called to control the mob.