Social MediaPolice in southern Pakistan have shot useless a health care provider accused of blasphemy, drawing condemnation from human rights teams.
Dr Shahnawaz Kanbhar was killed “simply by likelihood” in shootout with officers who didn’t comprehend it was him, in response to an area police chief in Sindh province Niaz Khoso
Dr Kanbhar had gone into hiding on Tuesday after being accused of insulting Islam’s prophet Muhammad and sharing blasphemous content material on social media.
He’s the second blasphemy suspect in Pakistan to be shot useless within the area of per week.
In response to a police report, officers within the metropolis of Mirpur Khas had tried to cease two males driving on a motorbike on Wednesday, with a purpose to search their automobile.
As a substitute of complying, the report says, one of many males opened fireplace. A gun battle ensued, during which Dr Kanbhar was killed.
It was solely after the shootout that officers discovered that the person that they had shot was Dr Kanbhar, in response to Khoso, the native police chief. The second particular person on the motorbike escaped.
Nonetheless, a relative of Dr Kanbhar has advised BBC Urdu that he was killed in a “faux encounter” – one thing which native police deny.
The Inside Minister for Sindh province Zia-ul-Hasan Linjar has ordered an unbiased inquiry into Dr Kanbhar’s dying.
The killing of Dr Kanbhar comes per week after an officer opened fireplace inside a police station within the south-western metropolis of Quetta, fatally wounding one other suspect who was being held on accusations of blasphemy.
The deaths have drawn sturdy condemnation from the Human Rights Fee of Pakistan (HRCP), which mentioned it was “gravely involved by the alleged extrajudicial killing of two individuals accused of blasphemy.”
“This sample of violence in instances of blasphemy, during which legislation enforcement personnel are allegedly concerned, is an alarming pattern,” it mentioned in a press release issued on Friday.
Dr Kanbhar was shot useless a day after Islamists in close by Umerkot staged a protest demanding his arrest and burned down his clinic.
His family members advised BBC Urdu that they needed to journey for miles to bury his physique, after having been blocked by native individuals and officers.
The incident in Sindh province comes per week after an officer opened fireplace inside a police station within the south-western metropolis of Quetta, fatally wounding one other suspect held on accusations of blasphemy.
The person had been arrested final Wednesday after officers rescued him from an enraged mob that claimed he had insulted Muhammad.
Nonetheless, the person’s household and tribe mentioned they forgave the officer and that the person had harm the feelings of Muslims by insulting Muhammad, in response to native media experiences.
Although killings of blasphemy suspects by mobs are widespread, such killings by police are uncommon in Pakistan.
Accusations, and even merely rumours, of blasphemy spark rioting and rampage by mobs that may escalate into killings.
Below Pakistan’s blasphemy legal guidelines, anybody discovered responsible of insulting Islam or Islamic spiritual figures might be sentenced to dying – although authorities have but to hold out a dying sentence for blasphemy.
Pakistan has witnessed a surge in assaults on blasphemy suspects in recent times.
In June, a mob broke right into a police station within the north-western city of Madyan, snatched a detainee who was a vacationer, after which killed him over allegations that he had desecrated Islam’s holy e-book.
