The government of Pakistan fails to protect Ahmadiyya community worship place and one factory owned by member of this minority community when Muslim mob set it on fire in presence of law enforcement personals on pretext to blasphemy law.
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Hundreds of people surrounded a chipboard factory in Jhelum city on Friday night and set it ablaze after reports surfaced that an employee had allegedly desecrated the Koran.
“The incident took place after we arrested the head of security at the factory, Qamar Ahmad Tahir, for complaints that he ordered burning of the copies of the holy Quran”, Adnan Malik, a senior police official told a news agency.
The mob later moved to the Grand Trunk Road, blocked the route and chanted slogans against the police.
When District Police Officer (DPO) Mujahid Akbar Khan failed to negotiate an end to the protest, paramilitary rangers were called in to disperse the mob and clear the main artery.
Provincial police told Reuters the situation in Jehlum had been brought under control, but negotiations with religious leaders and protesters continued in an effort to bring the tense standoff at the seized mosque to an end.
After this, people in the area approached local mosques to make announcements against the release of the four men. The mob then set fire to the factory, though no one was injured as all the workers had been evacuated by the time, sources said.
Infuriated mob provoked after rumuors pertaining to blasphemy circulated in the Punjab’s district Jhelum set a factory in. The security in-charge in the factory, who is also an Ahmadi, was accused of desecrating the Holy Quran, he said, adding that an FIR has been registered and the accused arrested. “If the police does not take stern action against the perpetrators, there are chances of them burning down the houses of the Ahmadis too”, he said, while pointing out that none of the attackers have been arrested so far.
Blasphemy is a hugely sensitive issue in Pakistan, an Islamic republic of a few 200 million, where even unproven allegations frequently stir mob violence and lynchings.
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Pakistan’s Ahmadis consider themselves Muslim but were declared non-Muslims by the Constitution and are also barred from proselytising or identifying themselves as Muslims.
