Another girls’ school set on fire in Pakistan.
A large number of people, including activists of religious parties, ransacked and set on fire a girls’ school in Lahore and clashed with police following reports that a question paper for a test had contained blasphemous references to the Prophet, police said today.
Reports, please note. Also known as rumors. Reports that something something, so whammo, set fire to a girls’ school.
Residents of Karim Park near Data Darbar began gathering outside the school yesterday morning following reports that its owner, Asim Farooqi, and teacher Arifa had committed blasphemy.
According to witnesses, the mob surrounded the three school buildings and forced their entry into the complex even after a large police contingent was deployed at the spot.
A sizeable number of activists of the Islami Jamiat Talba and JuD were part of the crowd and they demanded that the police should hand over the blasphemers to them.
The protesters subsequently forced their entry into the buildings after police used teargas in an attempt to disperse them. They let terrified students vacate the buildings and searched for the “blasphemers”.
So that they could beat them to death?
Legislators Mian Marghoob and Khawaja Imran Nazir of the PML-N that rules Punjab and senior police officers reached the spot and requested the protesters to go home so that police could investigate the matter.
“I assure you the government will thoroughly investigate the matter and will not spare those involved in blasphemy,” promised Nazir, who is the political secretary to Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif.
Later, police claimed they had arrested both Farooqi and Arifa and booked them under the harsh blasphemy law.
A police official said that the private school’s administration had set a question paper for a test a few days ago that allegedly contained “indecent” remarks about the Prophet Mohammed.
I would say something harsh, but Chris Stedman might report me to the Huffington Post.