Blasphemy case registered against prayer leader in Pakistan's Punjab province

Punjab [Pakistan], March 12 (ANI): Pressure from extremist elements in Pakistan have led to a sharp rise in blasphemy cases and a case was registered on Friday against the prayer leader of a mosque for allegedly uttering blasphemous words in his speech against religious figures, local media reported.
The case was registered by Toba Tek Singh city police in the Pakistani province of Punjab.
The complainant, Maulana Dr Rafiq Anwar Chishti, a prayer leader of Jamia Masjid Madni Muhalla Irfat, alleged in the first information report (FIR) registered under section 298-A of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) that the suspect attempted to spread sectarianism through his speech in the mosque, Dawn newspaper reported.
The city police said they were looking into the matter. However, no arrest has so far been made.
In a recent study on the blasphemy issue in Pakistan, a local Think Tank, Centre for Research and Security Studies had revealed that from 1947 to 2021, as many as 89 people were extra-judicially killed over blasphemy accusations in the country.
It further stated that a total of 1,287 citizens were accused of committing blasphemy from 2011-21, the period in which TLP remained most active and expanded its support base across the country, reported European Times.
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan's government's failure to control incidents of blasphemy and an apparent soft- corner for the extremist Islamist groups, for political purposes, will have far-wider consequences for Pakistan in the coming months.
In addition, the Taliban's victory in Afghanistan has emboldened the hard-line Islamist forces in Pakistan. All these factors are indicating that there will be more incidents of blasphemy killings. (ANI)