LAHORE: Timely police intervention saved a teenage girl, who was wearing a dress with Arabic calligraphy, from being attacked by a charged mob who claimed she had committed blasphemy at the crowded Ichra Bazaar on Sunday. The situation turned ugly after someone claimed that the girl’s dress bore verses from the Quran. However, some shopkeepers defended the girl and hid her inside the shop, telling the crowd that it was just a print of Arabic calligraphy.
According to eyewitnesses, most of the accused people in the crowd were either customers, visitors or passers-by, and the clothing merchants who rescued the girl were aware of the Arabic calligraphy printed clothes available in the market. A video clip doing the rounds on social media shows a girl hiding in a shop shaking in fear of being attacked by a mob on charges of blasphemy, a charge that has resulted in public lynching in many past incidents across the country. In the footage, the girl denies the charge of insulting religion, saying she did nothing on purpose as clothes with Arabic calligraphy were commonly worn in the Gulf states, including Saudi Arabia.
Shop owners also supported her views, saying that the industry promotes clothing with Islamic/Arabic calligraphy and alphabets, and the words on her shirt have nothing to do with holy verses. Witnesses say that even after the traders’ explanation, the crowd split into groups with different views, some of the accused fanatics still insisted on the charge of “blasphemy”. At this, according to witnesses, one of the traders called the police to prevent any incident that would harm the girl.
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Meanwhile, some police officials reached the spot and sensing that it had become a sensitive matter, they reported it to their superiors who ordered them to act quickly and rescue the girl to avoid any untoward incident. In an exclusive interview with Samaa TV, the police officer said saving the woman’s life is her first priority as any slight negligence or mistake could have caused a huge tragedy. She was reacting to a recent incident in Lahore’s Ichhra Bazaar, where an enraged mob of religious fanatics bayoneted for the blood of a woman suspected of wearing inappropriate clothing which they believed had Arabic inscriptions on it.
ASP Naqvi explained that the woman in question had an argument with shopkeepers in Ichhra Bazaar. “The woman was locked inside the restaurant and locked up. It was a difficult task to save her life from the hands of the enraged mob,” she added. She went on to say that a small mistake could have led to a major tragedy, adding that while the woman was being led away by the police, a mob ran behind them to chase them. She explained that she had to negotiate with the crowd at the market to calm them down. “The Arabic written on the women’s clothes has been thoroughly investigated,” the ASP claimed, stressing the importance of investigating any reports or rumours.
