Lynch mob taking over Pakistan?

Hordes of lynch mobs are emerging from the decadent innards of Pakistan, setting fire to innocents, terrorising minorities, and burning down villages and homes across the country.

The military and other state security agencies often protect and patronise those spearheading these mobs. Not one of the bloodthirsty men, armed with knives, swords and incendiary material, has been charged with any heinous crime and sentenced. The army has been extraordinarily hasty in trying those accused of mutiny against the armed forces in 2023. Hundreds are languishing in prison awaiting trial and punishment. Not only has the military and police forces, abetted by their political masters, indifferent to mob leaders who have been rampaging across the country for years now.

Most of the lynch mobs are teenagers, brainwashed through online hate messages spread by rabidly extremist groups like Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), courted by the military over the past few years.

One of the most horrific incidents of lynching took place a few days back in Swat where a tourist was dragged out from police custody and set on fire for an alleged desecration of Koran. The mob torched the police station where the tourist from Punjab was being held. Local mosques instigated the mob to gather at the station and kill the person. All blasphemy-related violence is gruesome but the present incident recalled the brutal killing of a Sri Lankan businessman in December 2021. He was set on fire in his car. A factory manager, the Sri Lankan was accused of tearing down posters carrying some religious verses.

Condemning the Swat incident, the English newspaper, Dawn, wrote that “this sort of ghastly behaviour has become the norm in Pakistan, as such incidents are occurring with frightening frequency. In most cases, individuals are lynched over accusations of blasphemy, while in others, suspected criminals are beaten to death or shot by mobs. Both varieties of ‘mob justice’ reflect the receding writ of the state.“ The angst may not be true–the state has willingly let go of its writ a long time back. In January 2011, the then Punjab Governor, Salman Taseer, was shot dead by his security guard for supporting a Christian woman jailed on alleged blasphemy charges. The guard was sentenced to death but the judge, who delivered the judgement, had to flee the country to escape lynching. The guard was hailed as a religious hero, his grave became a prayer site and the birthplace of TLP.

But it is not TLP alone which is behind the spate of killings in the name of blasphemy. It is the state itself which has created regressive laws to punish those accused of blasphemy. Successive governments, including Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s regime, had tightened the screws on minorities making laws progressively stringent. False accusations have become a norm. Hindus and Christians have often fallen victim to such fake allegations to avenge personal grouses or greed. Last year, a Christian area in Punjab was rampaged by mobs baying for their blood over blasphemy charges. The two brothers, accused of violating religious texts, were later found to be innocent by the local court. But by then, several churches, homes and property of Christians were set on fire by armed crowds instigated by local mosques and maulvis and led by TLP goons.

Like in the Swat incident, the state seemingly moves, files cases, makes some arrests, sets up a probe and then forgets till the next person is torched or shot dead in the public square. Dawn’s warning is grim: `The chilling alternative to not doing anything is the advent of mob rule.“ It is what the state wants.