Terrifying images show the moment A violent mob threatens to behead a terrified woman after accusing her of wearing a dress with “blasphemous” text in Pakistan.
Hundreds of angry men swarmed around a restaurant in the eastern city of Lahore after mistaking Arabic text meaning “sweet” on a shopper’s dress for verses from the Koran.
The woman is seen cowering in fear as the men begin to threaten her, telling her to take off her clothes, before the shop is closed and police officers try to calm the baying crowd.
A brave officer tries to reason with the men, asking them to “have faith in the police” and not take the law into their own hands, even as the crowd swells and begins chanting a slogan that means “there is only one punishment for those “. who blaspheme against the prophet: beheading’.
The police officer, identified as Deputy Superintendent Syeda Shehrbano Naqvi, enters the restaurant and manages to take the woman, who is now covered in black, protecting her from the men gathered outside.
The woman is seen cowering in fear as the men begin to threaten her and tell her to take off her clothes.
A brave officer tries to “negotiate,” even as the crowd grows and begins chanting a slogan that means “there is only one punishment for those who blaspheme the prophet: beheading.”
A brave officer tries to reason with the men, asking them to “have faith in the police” and not take the law into their own hands.
A brave police officer escorts the woman, covered in a black dress, through the howling crowd.
“No one really knew what was written on the shirt,” the officer told the bbc. “The biggest feat was trying to get that woman out of the area to ensure she was safe.”
In a second video, the woman is seen in custody, flanked by police and Islamic clerics who confirmed that her dress did not have verses from the Koran printed on it and that she was innocent.
He has his face covered and looks at the camera with his hands crossed apologetically, saying he is “sorry and he didn’t mean to offend.”
Fighting back tears, she adds that she “didn’t realize that people would misinterpret the Arabic text as meaning something from the Koran” and that she would “never wear a dress like that again,” as the cleric at her side continues to tell her what to do. say.
“The woman was shopping when a group of men saw her dress with Arabic text on it and demanded that she take it off, because they believed it was blasphemy,” says ASP Shehrbano.
Among the crowd were supporters of the far-right party Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), whose members regularly call for the beheading of blasphemers.
Police said they were called to the scene at around 1pm on Sunday and that around 300 people had gathered at the restaurant when they arrived.
The dress in question was a design with the Arabic word ‘halwa’ meaning sweet, which has no religious significance, and was sold at a boutique based in Saudi Arabia.
The dress in question was a design with the Arabic word ‘halwa’ meaning sweet, which has no religious significance, and was sold at a boutique based in Saudi Arabia.
Fighting back tears, he adds that he “didn’t realize that people would misinterpret the Arabic text as meaning something from the Quran.”
In a second video, the woman is seen in custody, flanked by police and Islamic clerics who confirmed that her dress did not have verses from the Koran printed on it.
Praising the policewoman’s effort in stopping the mob, Pakistan’s Punjab Police said they had nominated her for a bravery award and shared the video on Twitter.
“If I hadn’t yelled and convinced the crowd that we were going to do something about it, everything would have become more unpleasant… Thank God,” he said.
ASP Shehrbano said authorities have seen a “multiplication of incidents” like the one on Sunday, the BBC reports.
Blasphemy is punishable by death in Pakistan, but there have been numerous cases of alleged perpetrators being lynched before their cases came to trial.
At least 85 people have been killed over blasphemy accusations since 1990, according to investigators and local media.