A handicapped man was set ablaze in Ghotki, Pakistan on October 1, 2022. When the victim jumped into a nearby pond to extinguish the fire, the attacker, apparently a student of a religious seminary, followed him, strangling him to death. The reason, according to media reports, was accusations of blasphemy. The video of the killing went viral online.
The killing sent shockwaves across Pakistani society, especially among minority communities in the deeply religious country where most people identify as Sunni Muslims.
Just a few days later, Shiite scholar, Naveed Ashiq was killed in the eastern Punjab province.
In a separate incident, a radical Sunni cleric in the same province called for the killing of pregnant women from the Ahmadi religious sect. The Ahmadi are not recognized as Muslim under Pakistani law.
Claims of blasphemy can be especially dangerous in Pakistan. Human rights groups believe most accusers use these claims to settle personal scores and property disputes as well as other minor issues.
Records show that 1,415 people were accused of blasphemy between 1947 and 2021. According to the Center for Research and Security Studies, a Pakistani think tank, 81 of the accused were killed — 71 men and 10 women.
Hate crimes on rising
Disturbingly, the number of incidents which involve accusations of blasphemy and hate crimes against minorities appears to be rising.
In December last year, a Sri Lankan man was lynched in Sialkot city of Punjab while this February a man accused of desecrating the Holy Quran was beaten to death by a mob in the Punjabi town of Khenewal. Recently, a school in the city of Attock, in the same eastern province, expelled four Ahmadi children. The reason provided by the school was mere that they were Ahmadi, said Amir Mahmood, spokesman for the religious organization Jamaat-e-Ahmadi.
The Ahmadi representative told DW that social media was awash in hate literature against his community, complete with anti-Ahmadi banners and posters. This has, in some cases, led to blasphemy allegations, according to Mahmood.
