Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal has demanded that a committee be formed to probe mob lynching incidents after a violent crowd lynched a man and set his body on fire over allegations of desecrating the holy Quran in Swat two days ago.
“It is the ulema’s responsibility to understand how religion has been weaponised to justify mob violence. There must be a committee in place to tackle these incidents so we can be a civilised country,” he said in his National Assembly speech during a session on Saturday.
A violent mob lynched the suspect on Thursday night and set his body on fire. The man was arrested and brought to the Madyan police station which was later stormed by the mob, according to police and local residents.
Videos of the incident went viral on social media, with some social media users claiming that hundreds of people gathered outside the police station. Some individuals had made announcements in the marketplace that a person had desecrated the Quran, locals had told Aaj News on the condition of anonymity due to security concerns.
Deputy Speaker Shah said that as a member of the cabinet, Iqbal should confer with Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi and work with him to form the committee. He also asked him to bring this up in cabinet and not in Parliament.
Iqbal condemned the lynching of the man and lamented that how religion was being weaponised to justify “street justice” and “vigilantism”.
He was of the view that Parliament had to take strict notice of “mob justice”.
“Another mob lynching has happened in Swat and Pakistan is under scrutiny for it,” he said, “if this was an isolated incident we could move past it, but similar incidents have happened in Sialkot, Jaranwala and Sargodha,” he added.
The minister also referred to an attempt on his life in 2018, where he was shot by a supporter of the religio-political party Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan.
“We must take notice of this incident as our nation is on the brink. We have now reached a point where we are using religion to justify mob violence and street justice, flagrantly violating the Constitution, the law and the state,” he said.
