'Zero tolerance': PM Imran Khan wants a police report on Mian Channu mob lynching

• Mob attacks and beats another man to death in Mian Channu over alleged blasphemy.
• PM Imran Khan seeks report and orders strict action against culprits and police.
• Federal ministers Fawad Chaudhry and Shireen Mazari condemn incident.

Prime Minister Imran Khan, in his reaction to the recent incident of the lynching of a man by hundreds of men in Khanewal's tehsil Mian Channu, Punjab, has said that the government has zero tolerance for anyone taking the law into their own hands.

A man was attacked and stoned to death by a mob for alleged blasphemy in Mian Channu on Saturday.

In a statement issued on Twitter on Sunday, PM Imran Khan said that mob lynching incdents will be dealt with strictly under the law.

The premier said that he has sought a report from the Punjab inspector general of police on the progress of action against the culprits and police who failed to maintain law and order.

"We have zero tolerance for anyone taking the law into their own hands & mob lynchings will be dealt with full severity of the law. Have asked Punjab IG for report on action taken against perpetrators of the lynching in MIan Channu & against the police who failed in their duty," he wrote. 

Result of decades old educational system: Fawad Chaudhry 

Meanwhile, Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry also reacted to the gruesome incident, saying that he has repeatedly drawn attention towards the topics preaching destructive terrorism in the education system of Pakistan.

"Incidents like Sialkot and Mian Channu lynching are an outcome of the educational system enforced in the country for decades," Fawad said, adding that the matter is both about the implementation of law and deterioration of society.

The minister warned of major destruction if "reforms are not made on schools, police stations and pulpits level."

'Perpetrators won't go unpunished'

Moreover, Federal Minister for Human Rights Shireen Mazari also condemned the Mian Channu incident and said that the culprits will not be allowed to escape punishment.

Mazari said that the Punjab government acted like a silent spectator at the time of the incident.

Taking to Twitter, the minister said that laws are there and police should implement them and not let mobs do as they please.

She also urged the provincial government to take immediate action against police for letting such an incident happen again.

"The mob lynching of a man in Mian Channu is condemnable & cannot be allowed to go unpunished. Punjab govt must immediately take action against the police that watched it happen & the perpetrators. Laws exist - the police must enforce these laws & not allow mobs to rule the day," Mazari wrote.

The incident

A man, identified as Mushtaq, was stoned to death by a mob for allegedly desecrating the Holy Quran in Jungle Dera, a remote village of Khanewal, Dawn reported.

Hundreds of men, infuriated by the announcements after Maghrib prayer — that a man had torn some pages of the Holy Quran and set them ablaze — hanged the accused on a tree and pelted bricks at him until he bled to death.

The publication reported an eyewitness as saying that the police arrived on the spot well before the stoning and had arrested Mushtaq, but the mob not willing to listen to the his claims of innocence, "snatched him from the SHO’s custody" and killed him.

Police register case against over 300 suspects

Meanwhile, Punjab police spokesperson said that a case has been registered against the lynching under sections pertaining to murder and terrorism on the relevant SHO's behalf.

He said that 33 known and 300 unidentified suspects have been nominated in the case and some have been arrested as well.

The police said that raids are being carried out to arrest more suspects.