Those of us who are still shocked by the senseless violence around us will have felt a collective sense of shock, shame, and anger as another man was lynched by a mob, this time over blasphemy allegations. The heinous mob attack occurred outside a police station in Nankana Sahib. Muhammad Waris, 45, of Nankana’s Qazi Town area, was accused of blasphemy and taken into police custody once it became clear that he would be in danger. This did not appear to deter the mob, which stormed the police station, dragged the man out, lynched him, and then burned his body.
All the while, the force that is supposed to maintain law and order, protect, and serve has gotten away with simply protecting itself. The police have launched an investigation and suspended the DSP and SHO, and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who has also launched an investigation, has asked: Why didn’t the police intervene to stop the violent mob? The rule of law must be upheld.
And why not ask Pakistan’s many silent citizens, who are witnessing the country’s virtual unravelling right in front of their eyes? More and more incidents involving mob attacks have occurred in Pakistan. A mob attack, also known as “vigilante justice,” occurs every few months, ranging from mob lynchings on suspicion of theft to the more common and trigger-happy mobs riled up over blasphemy allegations. In December 2021, a Sri Lankan national was lynched by a large mob in Sialkot, once again on suspicion of blasphemy. And who can forget the heartbreaking lynching of Mashal Khan, a young man full of promise, in 2017?
There will be the usual Never Again promises, vows to ensure that such a crime is never committed in our name again, condemnations from all over the country, and then, in a few days, some new scandal will emerge in the media, something new to outrage over, and Waris, like Priyantha and Mashal, will be forgotten.
More than a few words of condemnation are required. The truth is that the impunity granted to extremist groups, the state’s appeasement of violence, and the cynical weaponization of religion have led us to this point. Previous examples show that even police officers are unsure how to deal with religiously charged mobs; in the Nankana Sahib attack, the police chose to stand helplessly while attempting to flee the mob.
Meanwhile, the Punjab chief minister has requested a full investigation into the incident, which has rarely, if ever, resulted in anything of value. The government must devise a concrete strategy to combat growing extremism and the rise of violent mobs in the country. It has coddled and appeased this type of violence for far too long. For far too long, we have remained silent as blood is shed indiscriminately. The abyss isn’t just staring back at us; it’s screaming at us.
