Karachi, Sep 19 (PTI) The family of a Pakistani man who died in police custody after being accused of blasphemy has disavowed his alleged actions and expressed forgiveness towards the officer responsible for his death.
The man identified as Abdul Ali, a shopkeeper who was arrested on charges of blasphemy, was shot dead by a police officer at a police station in Quetta on Thursday last week. The officer was later arrested.
The family members of Ali, who belong to the Noorzai tribe, told media in Quetta on Wednesday that they have forgiven the police officer named Saad Sarhadi unconditionally.
The tribal head, Haji Faizaullah Noorzai, said the family and the tribe have nothing to do with the act of blasphemy committed by Ali.
The family members also condemned Ali for the alleged blasphemy, saying, “We never hesitate to render our lives in the honour of the Holy Prophet.” “We have pardoned the police official Saad Muhammad Sarhadi in the name of Allah and unconditionally,” the family members said, adding that they would not move court against the police official.
Under Pakistan’s controversial blasphemy laws, anyone found guilty of insulting Islam or Islamic religious figures can be sentenced to death, though authorities have yet to carry out death sentences for blasphemy. However, there have been numerous instances of mobs taking the law into their own hands to punish blasphemy suspects, often before cases even reach the courts.
In January 2011, Punjab Governor Salman Taseer was gunned down by his bodyguard Mumtaz Qadri in Islamabad over his views on blasphemy laws.
Qadri, who was hailed as a hero by some Islamist groups, had claimed it was his religious duty to kill the minister for disrespecting the blasphemy laws. Qadri was hanged in February 2016 on court orders.
In 2021, 48-year-old Sri Lankan national Priyantha Diyawadanage, who was working as a manager at a factory in Sialkot, was beaten to death and his body set on fire by an enraged mob which accused him of committing blasphemy after a row with some workers over prayer timings. The courts later sentenced six people to death over the incident.
In a recent case on Wednesday night, a doctor named Shahnawaz Kanbar was killed in a shootout with police in Sindh province amidst allegations of blasphemy that prompted him to flee. According to police, the doctor was shot dead after he refused to surrender. PTI CORR SCY SCY
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