Tensions are high in Hyderabad following an incident of alleged desecration of the Holy Quran. Enraged crowds took to the streets to get hold of the accused.
According to the details, a Hindu sanitary worker was accused of allegedly burning some pages of the Holy Quran in a marketplace in Saddar, Hyderabad. A complaint was registered against the man under sections 295-B and 34 of PPC and the police arrested him.
However, the issue began when the news of the man allegedly burning the Holy Quran spread like wildfire. As per reports, around eight to ten men entered the shopping plaza looking for the man. An angry mob also gathered outside the plaza, demanding the police hand him over.
Read more: Watch: Local man accuses soft drink company of blasphemy
As a result of the enraged mob, all business and commercial centers were shut down immediately. Since the mob refused to leave, the police resorted to baton charges and tear gas shelling, forcing the crowd to flee.
Hyderabad police dispersed a violent mob which was demanding handing over a Hindu sanitary worker accusing him of #blasphemy Police claims the sanitary worker was targeted because of a personal clash with a local resident pic.twitter.com/CnSFLNLqhH
— Mubashir Zaidi (@Xadeejournalist) August 21, 2022
The police registered a case against 150-200 rioters and arrested 48 from the mob that gathered outside the plaza amid accusations of blasphemy against the Hindu sanitary worker.
While the police are actively working to keep the law and order situation, the situation is still tense in Hyderabad. Reports emerge of members of the Hindu community getting attacked following the incident.
Our religion doesn’t teach us to harm anyone but if you tried to disrespect our prophet(peace be upon him) or our holy book (Quran) we will not step back for a second we are muslims we can die to protect our religion at any cost and no other minorities got any harm
#Hyderabad pic.twitter.com/tZqDhDHe2k— Salman Shahid (@199926salman) August 21, 2022
Important to note that this is rather alarming as accusations of blasphemy often lead to extreme and horrific measures. Last year, a mob in Sialkot lynched a Sri Lankan factory manager over accusations of blasphemy.
Sialkot incident
In December 2021, an angry mob accused a Sri Lankan factory manager, Priyantha Diyawadana, of blasphemy by allegedly tearing up posters containing holy verses. As a result, they beat him to death. Later they burned his body.
Videos of the incident went viral on social media and left the entire nation horrified and shocked. Authorities immediately came into action to arrest those responsible for the horrible incident in Sialkot.
This was not the first incident of mob violence against alleged suspects of blasphemy. Several incidents of a violent mob beating the suspects to death have been reported in various cities of Pakistan.
Read more: It is high time we fixed mob taking over Pakistan! – Maleeha Hashmey