Pakistan asserts responsibility for the lethal encounter involving a medical professional accused of blasphemy.
Multan, Pakistan — The Pakistani administration admitted on Thursday that law enforcement officers had orchestrated the demise of a doctor under their custody, who was accused of blasphemy. The authorities subsequently fabricated details surrounding his death, claiming it was a shootout between cops and armed men, as per a local minister.
This declaration marks the initial time the government has implicated security forces in what the doctor's family and human rights groups have labeled an extrajudicial execution perpetrated by the police.
The doctor, Shah Nawaz, hailed from the southern Sindh province. He surrendered to the police last week in the district of Mirpur Khas, based on guarantees that he would be afforded the opportunity to establish his innocence.
A few days prior, in the city of Umerkot, a mob charged that Nawaz had disrespected Islam's Prophet Muhammad and disseminated blasphemous content on social media. The mob also torched Nawaz's clinic.
According to the Interior Minister of the province, Ziaul Hassan, a government investigation concluded that Nawaz was murdered shortly after surrendering to authorities, referencing a staged "fake encounter" orchestrated by security forces. Hassan further disclosed to reporters at a press conference in the southern port city of Karachi that Nawaz's family would be able to file murder charges against the police officers responsible for his demise.
Shortly after Nawaz was fatally shot and his remains delivered to his family, a mob seized the corpse from Nawaz's father and incinerated it.
Hassan's statement corroborated the family's allegations made earlier this week.
Accusations of blasphemy, even mere rumors, often provoke riots and mob frenzies in Pakistan. Although killings of blasphemy suspects by mobs are prevalent, extrajudicial killings by police are rare.
“Eye for an eye”
Under Pakistan's contentious blasphemy laws, anyone found guilty of insulting Islam or Islamic religious figures can receive the death penalty, though no such sentences have been carried out for blasphemy thus far.
Nawaz's father expressed gratitude towards the government for its support and advocated for the execution of his son's killers under the "eye for an eye" principle stipulated in Sharia, or Islamic law.
“We have but one demand: Those police officers who staged the murder of my son ... must also be executed in the same manner,” said Nawaz's father, Mohammad Saleh.
Saleh thanked all those who offered their support to the family and condemned extremist clerics who incited the mob to demand Nawaz's death.
“The murderers of my son should be penalized promptly, so that others may learn a lesson and refrain from committing extrajudicial killings in the future,” said Nawaz's mother, Rehmat Kunbar.
She shared her desire to shield other parents' children from the influence of extremists.
Nawaz's death was the second case of an extrajudicial execution by police this month in Pakistan.
A week prior, an officer shot and killed Syed Khan, a suspect held on blasphemy accusations, inside a police station in the southwestern city of Quetta. Khan was rescued from an enraged mob that accused him of blasphemy. However, he was gunned down by a police officer, Mohammad Khurram, who was apprehended. Nevertheless, the tribe and Khan's family later pardoned the officer.
The Pakistani government's admission of the doctor's extrajudicial execution has sparked international condemnation, with human rights organizations calling for an end to blasphemy-related violence in Asia. Despite Pakistan's commitment to upholding Sharia law, this incident highlights the urgent need for reform in the enforcement of blasphemy laws around the world.
