Religious-fueled mobs rising in Pakistan

Religious-fueled mobs rising in Pakistan
Photo via Herald Dawn

29.03.2022

Marlene Pereira 

Pakistan and Human Rights Researcher

 

Global Human Rights Defence

 Pakistan is one of the countries with the highest index of religious-fueled mobs with alarming rates of violence, and the numbers are rising in the last few years, day by day.

 Prime Minister Imran Khan stated that the government had “zero tolerance” for such mob violence (Times of India, 2022) but not much is actually done to stop these atrocities and violent crimes. 

 Critics and activists even claim that no practical steps are being made to curb violence (The Economic Times, 2022), those are just empty political practices. “Mr. Khan’s government is no different from its predecessors in promising to tackle the menace of religious violence. But it is too cowardly to confront influential religious parties in Parliament and the rampaging militant extremist groups outside Parliament.”- Tahira Abdullah (OpIndia, 2022).

 Mob violence is seen as a form of private justice for Pakistani citizens. Last month, Muhammad Mushtaq was accused of burning pages of the Quran inside a mosque, and for that he was tortured and eventually killed, his body hung from a tree. Police officers were among the ones who watched the crime. (Times of India, 2022).

 Unfortunately this is not an isolated case, and until clear practical political measures are taken more people will become a victim of these hateful crimes.



Sources further reading:

The Economic Times. (2022, March 26). Religion-fueled mobs on the rise again in Pakistan.The Economic Times. Retrieved March 28, 2022, from https://m.economictimes.com/news/international/world-news/religion-fueled-mobs-on-the-rise-again-in-pakistan/amp_articleshow/90465409.cms



The Times of India. (2022, March 26). Religion-fueled mobs on the rise again in Pakistan. The Times of India. Retrieved March 28, 2022, from https://m.timesofindia.com/world/pakistan/religion-fueled-mobs-on-the-rise-again-in-pakistan/articleshow/90460908.cms



OpIndia. (2022, March 27). Religious violence by mobs is more in Pakistan than any other country: Reports. OpIndia. Retrieved March 29, 2022, from https://www.opindia.com/2022/03/pakistan-has-more-religious-violence-than-any-other-country-reports/amp/