- February 27, 2024
- Kainat Shakeel
- 0
On Tuesday, after a young woman in Lahore who was wearing clothing with Arabic calligraphy was rescued from a mob attack, senators denounced “ignorance” and demanded harsh action against anyone making “false allegations” of blasphemy. A woman’s clothing allegedly had Quranic words printed on it, and on Sunday afternoon, a crowd had gathered outside the store in the busy Ichra Bazaar of Lahore. The religious fanatics demanding the accusation of “blasphemy” Social media users shared a video clip of the girl hiding in a store and trembling with terror. Aware of how delicate the matter was, a few police officers on the scene called in their superiors.
Then, amid increased security, a police team under the command of Gulberg Circle Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Syeda Shehr Bano Naqvi engaged the mob, removed the woman into protective custody, and transported her to the police station. A video of the woman apologizing to religious scholars surfaced later that day. Parliament’s upper house expressed disapproval of the occurrence today. Senator Rubina Khalid of the PPP stated that some people’s inability to distinguish between Arabic characters and Quranic verses was a sign of “utter ignorance.” “The inciting mob would have done something worse if the police had not arrived on time,” the woman claimed.
“We must consider our future direction. This is something that needs to be debated,” she insisted.
The woman’s “forceful apology” was also a point of contention for the senator. The young woman apologized in a video that surfaced the same day the incident was reported for her attire. The senator questioned, “Why was she forced to record a public apology for something she didn’t do?” Rubina went on to say that the woman’s shirt was made by a Saudi Arabian company. There, things are alright, but here, women are persecuted for religious reasons. The senator declared, “We are all Muslims and are proud of it, but there is a huge difference between an ignorant and a Muslim.”
Simultaneously, MQM-P Senator Faisal Subzwari remarked: “Is a person who cannot distinguish a basic Arabic word from a passage in the Quran a Muslim? Furthermore, what type of Muslim is it that makes unfounded allegations against someone even when they can read Arabic? He emphasized that the greatest kind of disrespect was profanity used to make untrue accusations. “The misapplication of blasphemy laws is a serious issue, and I wish the House had been able to pass legislation on it,” Subzwari stated.
“Who is to blame in this situation? Who is it that is disparaging Islam? “Is it that lady or are they the ones who wrongly accused her even after they saw the letters [on her shirt]?” he questioned. The MQM-P senator continued by saying that nobody dared to speak in public today out of fear. “What kind of image of a religion that stands for love and peace are we presenting?” he questioned. Subzwari said, “Every Muslim has the right to speak about the religion they follow, not just religious scholars.”