LAHORE: Several Shia organizations have announced to stage a sit-in across Pakistan against a Sialkot man accused of blasphemy.
Azan Rehman alias Abdul Rehman Salfi, resident of Sialkot, has been accused of saying blasphemous comments against Prophet Muhammad’s Ahle Bait. The religious scholars, belonging to Shia community, have asked the relevant authorities to arrest the man immediately.
A hashtag calling for the arrest of Abdul Rehman Salafi became the top Twitter trend in Pakistan today (Saturday), deepening concern over a sectarian tensions in the country. The hashtag #ArrestAbdulRehmanSalfi had dropped to sixth place by evening, but not before it had been used or forwarded more than 28,000 times.
The social media users have called upon the government to ‘publicly hanged’ the alleged accused. Meanwhile, a case has been registered against Azan-e-Ilahi Rehman in Shera Kot police station of Lahore on Saturday afternoon on the complaint of Inspector Syed Abrar Hussain Rizvi.
“Azan-e-Ilahi Rehman alias Abdul Rehman Salfi has made blasphemous comments against Prophet Muhammad’s (S.A.W.W) family, Ahle Bait. The accused should be immediately arrested and severely punished,” the First Information Report (FIR) stated. The case has been registered under section 295A, 298A, section 16 of Punjab Maintenance of Public Ordinance 1960.
When contacted by M.M News, plaintiff Syed Abrar said, “Soon after the blasphemous comments surfaced on social media, we staged a protest and blocked several roads of Lahore. After which the police have registered our case and now efforts are underway to arrest the culprit.”
In this regard, Allama Ibtisam Elahi Zaheer has released a video statement and said, “We will raise our voice against the people who are stating blasphemous comments against Prohphet Muhammad (S.A.W.W), His companions and His Ahle Bait.”
