MANSEHRA , April 18, 2023: An angry mob stormed a police station in Pakistan on Monday after the local police arrested a Chinese national over suspicions he had insulted Islam.
The man was identified only as Mr. Tian.
On Sunday, a crowd of workers blocked a key highway in the town of Komela, close to the site of Dasu dam where Tian was working, demanding his arrest.
Hundreds of workers then broke into the police station, believing that the man was hiding inside. But an army helicopter took the man to a safer location as police feared that he could be attacked by the mob.
“The mob dispersed only after they were shown a copy of the case registered on blasphemy charges,” police official Naseer-ud-Din Khan said.
Under Pakistani law, a conviction of blasphemy can be punishable by death.
The accusations stemmed from a disagreement on the dam construction site, which houses both Pakistani and Chinese workers. The dam is the biggest hydropower project in Pakistan.
The accused pointed out the “slow pace of work” during the holy month of Ramazan, when Muslims fast from dawn to sunset, a police official told AFP news agency.
“The labourers said they were fasting but denied that work had slowed down, which led to an exchange of heated words,” according to the unnamed source.
Later workers also claimed Mr. Tian had made blasphemous remarks and insulted the prophet, according to the official.
Social media videos showed the mob chanting “God is great” as police fired shots in the air to disperse the crowd.
Police said that Tian will be tried under blasphemy laws if investigators prove he insulted Islam.
The Chinese Embassy in Islamabad did not respond immediately to the arrest.
Meanwhile, the Chinese national was booked on blasphemy charges in Upper Kohistan district and sent to prison on a 14-day judicial remand by an Abbottabad anti-terrorism court on Monday.
“We have arrested the foreigner suspect under blasphemy and terrorism charges and airlifted him from here to present him before the anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Abbottabad,” Mohammad Khalid, the district police officer (DPO) in Upper Kohistan, told reporters.
The suspect was later produced before the ATC amid strict security measures. Security personnel remained tightlipped about his place of detention, but the DPO said he was moved to Islamabad in the evening.
An FIR has been registered at the Kamila police station, Upper Kohistan, under Sections 295-C of the Pakistan Penal Code and Section 6/7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act.
The FIR quoted some workers and their interpreters as saying that the suspect had uttered “sacrilegious remarks” when they sought a break to offer prayers.
According to the FIR, police were informed on Sunday night about a mob trying to force their way into a Chinese camp near Barseen. A police party rushed to the place, cordoned off the area and shifted the suspect to Kamila police station.