23 people arrested for involvement in lynching of tourist in Pakistani city of Swat

Islamabad: Pakistani police have arrested more than 20 people for their alleged involvement in the lynching of a tourist in the scenic city of Swat for allegedly desecrating the Quran, media reports said on Sunday.

Muhammad Ismail, a 40-year-old resident of Sialkot in Punjab province, was gunned down on Thursday by an angry mob who dragged him through the city and later hanged him in front of everyone in Madyan tehsil of Swat district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

The mob also set fire to the Madyan police station.

Ismail was accused of burning the pages of Islam’s holy book. Five police officers and eleven locals were injured in the incident.

Police arrested 23 people for alleged involvement in Ismail’s lynching and the arson attack on Madyan police station. Geo News reported.

The detainees were taken to an unknown location while attempts were made to arrest the others involved in the incident, police said.

The members of the mob have been identified and “efforts to arrest them are underway,” the report said, citing Swat District Police Officer (DPO) Syed Zaman Shah.

He said that two first-in-community reports (FIRs) had also been filed for blasphemy and damage to government property.

He added that the suspect was reportedly a drug addict and was arrested following a domestic violence complaint filed by his mother.

On Saturday, Pakistan’s Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal condemned the lynching and lamented that religion is being used as a weapon to justify “street justice” and “vigilante justice.” “We must take note of this incident because our nation is on the brink. We have now reached a point where we are using religion as a weapon to justify mob violence and street justice in blatant violation of the Constitution, the law and the state,” Iqbal said.