LAHORE: Police rescued a Christian man from enraged mobsters, who wished to lynch him, and attacked properties of another members of the minority neighborhood in Sargodha on allegations of desecration of Holy Quran on Saturday, the provincial police chief mentioned.
The incident happened when some residents of the Mujahid Colony found burned pages close to an electrical pole and the homes of the Christian household.
The residents embrace Irfan Gondal, his father Ayyub Gondal, TLP activists Ikram, Sjawal Butt and Manzar who referred to as different residents and alleged {that a} 74-year-old man from the minority neighborhood and his sons had recovered the pages of the holy e book from a field and set them on fireplace.
Individuals gathered and knocked on the door of the suspected man. When he got here out, the mobsters began thrashing him with kicks and fists and hurled stones at him.
The mob swelled and set a shoe store of the Christian household on fireplace and tried to enter their home after damaging the partitions and doorways.
Two homes broken, store torched in Sargodha amid outrage over alleged desecration of Holy Quran
Within the meantime, a heavy police contingent led by Sargodha DPO Assad Ejaz Malhi reached the scene. The police used a water cannon and baton-charged the mobsters to disperse them. They rescued the suspected man from them and shifted him to a army hospital.
The police additionally rescued different members of the family from the home and moved them to undisclosed places.
Rizwan Younus Gill, a nephew of the suspected man, advised Daybreak his uncle was in secure situation.
He claimed that a few days in the past a TLP activist had exchanged harsh phrases together with his cousions, however the matter was resolved by way of negotiations.
He denied allegations of desecration.
IGP holds assembly
IGP Punjab Dr Usman Anwar arrived on the scene and held a gathering with members of the Christian neighborhood and Muslim ulema.
He mentioned lots of of mobsters had attacked two Christian households over desecration allegation and caught one of many members of the family and had been attempting to lynch him when the police reached the scene and rescued them.
He mentioned a shoe store of the Christian household was set ablaze and partitions of their homes had been broken.
The IGP mentioned police had been deployed within the locality to take care of legislation and order and nobody could be allowed to take legislation into their very own arms.
He mentioned police would examine the alleged desecration incident and restore the broken properties and the store.
House Secretary Noorul Amin Mengal has ordered senior officers to research each side of the incident. “Pakistan belongs to all of us; no injustice will likely be tolerated below the guise of faith. Motion will likely be taken in accordance with the legislation after a whole investigation,” Mr Mengal mentioned.
No FIR of the incident was registered until late into night time.
Mobsters held
DPO Malhi advised Daybreak that 25 of the mobsters had been taken into custody from the spot they usually had been figuring out the opposite attackers.
He mentioned a head constable, Aneesur Rehman, performed the function of a hero and stood in entrance of the mobsters to rescue the Christian households.
He mentioned extra police models had been stationed all through town to make sure the security of the Christian neighborhood.
He rejected the movies circulating on social media by which the mobsters set a person on fireplace and mentioned the person accused of committing the desecration was alive and receiving remedy at a hospital.
A press release of the Sargodha police, a duplicate of which is out there with Daybreak, mentioned, “There was no lack of life, greater than 10 law enforcement officials and personnel had been additionally injured attributable to stone pelting by the indignant individuals. The Sargodha police risked their lives to rescue the households and pulled them out from the group. Because of the well timed motion of the police, Sargodha was spared an incredible tragedy.” The state of affairs within the metropolis is “fully peaceable and below management”, it added.
Divisional Commissioner Muhammad Ajmal Bhatti held out the peace of mind {that a} clear investigation could be performed into the incident, and people discovered accountable could be dropped at justice in accordance with legislation.
He appealed to the general public to disregard rumours and preserve peace, noting that the information circulating on social media could be opposite to the information and geared toward creating sensationalism. He urged the general public to not imagine any unverified info.
In the meantime, the Human Rights Fee of Pakistan expressed severe concern over the state of affairs.
The HRCP urged the Punjab Police and district administration to “instantly restore calm and convey the perpetrators to justice whereas guaranteeing the Christian neighborhood’s security”.
Revealed in Daybreak, Could twenty sixth, 2024