Violence erupted in Pakistan’s Hub City in Balochistan after a Hindu man allegedly shared “blasphemous” content on WhatsApp messenger, reported The Express Tribune. During the clashes between protestors and the police, a 13-year-old boy sustained bullet injuries and succumbed to his injuries.
The angry mob demanded that Prakash Kumar be handed over to them so that they could “administer justice” themselves and “punish” him, reported Dawn. The mob also demanded that 34-year-old Kumar to be lynched. However, when the Hub City police refused, the protestors pelted stones at them.
“When news of his arrest was published in local newspapers on Thursday, a crowd of some 500 people, including traders, clerics and politicians, surrounded the town’s police station to demand he be handed over,” AFP quoted a police official as saying.
The mob tried to block traffic that was coming from or going to Karachi and businesses had to be shut down, The Express Tribune report added. The police resorted to tear gas shelling and aerial firing to disperse the crowd and later took 20 people in custody.
Blasphemy in Pakistan carries a death penalty and has been a sensitive issue in the country. Last month, Mashal Khan, a student of Abdul Wali Khan university, had been lynched by a mob over allegations of blasphemy.
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