A man, during a domestic dispute, was said to have desecrated a copy of the Qur’an which his wife brought out upon which to swear an oath. When this news reached the mullah, he declared the man an infidel “kaafir” and punishable by death for his act of blasphemy. Thereupon, a mob of about 400 went after the man. Despite pleading for his life and climbing up a tree, the man was shot dead. The man’s family refused to accept the body, stating that they will not accept the body of an infidel. No arrests have been made. The specific mullah who declared him an infidel is unknown.
Reported in Dawn of April 21, 2005 and April 22, 2005: When a delegation from the Pakistani parliament reached Belgium en route to London to meet with members of the EU, delegation member “Maulana” (indicating the person is a cleric) Samiul Haq was detained. The EU announced it will not meet with Haq, citing his affliation with Jamaat-e-Ulema Islam, a somewhat extremist religious party.
As expected, Pakistan lodged a strong protest. MMA demanded EU representatives in Pakistan be expelled. Yada yada yada. But for once the EU made a smart decision and stood up against extremist elements in Pakistan.
A tailor, 60 years old, was beaten, stripped, and tied to a pillar for 10 hours on suspicion that he was going to steal the tap for a mosque’s “sabeel” (water for the public). He came to visit a client and while waiting for his client, he drank some of the water. Some people came out of the mosque and thought he was trying to steal the tap. They grabbed him, beat him, stripped off his clothes, and tied him to a pillar. This occured in front of the Eidhi Foundation’s office in the locality. When Mr. Abdul Sattar Eidhi - a well-known philanthropist - went to his office and saw this spectacle, he tried, in vain, to come to the man’s rescue. Neither he nor his volunteers were able to persuade the people to let the man go and let the police handle the issue. They told him to mind his own business and not to interfere. Finally, the police had to be called. Clothes were provided for the man by the Edhi Foundation. The man also claimed he was robbed of 450 ruppees during his ordeal. The newspaper reported that “No arrest was made till late on Thursday.”
If you are surrounded by many men bent on beating you to death, one goes where multitudes cannot simultaneously follow. Obviously this then leaves you vulnerable to being shot out of your perch. He probably took the best option he had.
It seems the guy was running away from the mob to avoid being beaten to death. A mob of 400 is certainly something one will want to escape from. And a mob of 400 cannot en masse climb a tree. But someone in a mob of 400 can shoot the poor victim down.
Pakistanis are insane. Well, not all. Just the non-urban ones.
WeRSauron, I’m not sure of your intended purpose for the three threads you started with the differing stories illustrating outrageous behavior in Pakistan (i.e., whether you wanted a general discussion or eventually a debate), but since the OPs of all three threads were just repostings of the stories and no real initial comments on your part, I merged the three threads into one.
According to [url=http://www.dawn.com/2005/05/07/top6.htm]Dawn, the Pakistani Embassy protested a seemingly anti-Pakistani cartoon in the Washington Times.
Well, at least they get a bit of their own medicine. Pakistani newspapers always publish anti-US, anti-Israeli cartoons.