Situation 'under control' in Mardan after man lynched over blasphemy, claim Pak police

Karachi [Pakistan], May 7 (ANI): A day after a man was lynched over blasphemy accusations at a rally of Imran Khan's political outfit Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), the Pakistan Police claimed that the situation in the city was "under control" and that the authorities had begun to investigate the matter, reported Dawn.
Rokhanzeb Khan, Mardan senior superintendent for operations, told Dawn that the lynching took place at a PTI rally on Saturday night in the Sawal Dher area.
Khan said Nigar Alam, a middle-aged man was attacked by an enraged mob at the rally after he allegedly made "blasphemous remarks" as the rally came to an end.
"When we saw that the people (in the area) had gotten riled up and were planning to attack Nigar, we escorted him to a shop in the market (where the rally was being held). But people broke into the shop and started attacking him with punches, kicks and clubs," the police official added.
He also said Alam died during the attack.
District Police Office (DPO) Najeebur Rehman told Dawn that the cops later dispersed the crowd and recovered the body.
He said investigations are in progress and that the police have started gathering evidence from the scene.
Rehman stated that no arrests have yet been made and that no First Information Report (FIR) of the incident has been filed, Dawn reported.
International and Pakistani rights groups said accusations of blasphemy have often been used to intimidate religious minorities and settle personal scores. Pakistan's government has long been under pressure to change the country's blasphemy laws, but other political forces in the country have strongly resisted, according to media reports.
Earlier, in February, a person accused of blasphemy in Nankana Sahib was forcefully taken out of the police station by an enraged mob of people and tortured to death.
The incident was reported in the Warburton area, where the accused, a Muslim man, was detained on charges of blasphemy and witchcraft for using pictures of his ex-wife. The man was also accused of setting pages of the Holy Quran to fire. He had recently been freed after spending two years in jail, as per The Friday Times.
The mob attacked the police station where the accused was held in a lockup, while the SHO of the police station and other law enforcement employees fled to save their lives.
Sources, quoted by The Friday Times, stated that the crowd dragged the accused out of the lockup, and tortured him to death and set his body on fire.
An investigation was ordered into the incident by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. He asked the police why they did not stop the violent crowd, and said that rule of law must be ensured at all costs, The Friday Times reported. (ANI)