Blasphemy accused killed by police, mob burns body in Pakistan

A mob in Pakistan’s southern Sindh province torched the corpse of a doctor accused of blasphemy after he was shot dead by police, officials said on Friday.

Dr Shahnawaz Kanbar, who was accused of sharing blasphemous content on social media, was killed in a police shootout on Wednesday night near Mirpurkhas, some 250 km northeast of Karachi. Local authorities claim he was fleeing arrest after refusing to surrender.

Police claimed that Shahnawaz opened fire at them, forcing officers to retaliate.

It was only after the shootout that authorities realised they had killed the man wanted for allegedly insulting Prophet Mohammed, police claimed.

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Kanbar had gone into hiding after a cleric in Umerkot lodged a complaint under Pakistan’s stringent blasphemy laws, accusing him of posting offensive content on Facebook. The doctor had released a video prior to the shootout, claiming his account had been hacked and denying any involvement in sharing blasphemous material.

His death followed a violent protest in Umerkot, where angry demonstrators demanded his arrest and set fire to his clinic.

“The family had brought the body to their native village, Janhero, for burial but a mob gathered there demanding the corpse be handed over to them,” local police officer Shakoor Rasheed said.

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The family fled for their lives, leaving the body behind. The mob later discovered Kanbar’s remains in an abandoned vehicle and set it alight, preventing the family from performing the burial rites.

The gruesome events drew widespread condemnation from human rights groups, with the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) calling for an urgent investigation into the circumstances of Kanbar’s death.

“This pattern of violence in cases of blasphemy, in which law enforcement personnel are allegedly involved, is an alarming trend,” it said in a statement.

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Blasphemy in Pakistan

The killing of Kanbar comes amid growing concerns over the misuse of Pakistan’s controversial blasphemy laws, which carry the death penalty for those found guilty of insulting Islam or its holy figures. Although no executions have been carried out under these laws, allegations often lead to mob violence and vigilante justice.

The incident in Sindh follows a similar case last week in Quetta, where a police officer fatally shot Syed Khan, a blasphemy suspect who had been rescued from a mob just hours earlier. In that case, the officer responsible for Khan’s death was arrested, but the victim's family later pardoned him, citing religious sentiments.

In June, a mob in the northwestern town of Madyan lynched a tourist accused of desecrating Islam’s holy book. Just last year, a mob in Punjab province attacked Christian homes and churches after accusing a local man of blasphemy.

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