Title: Man accused of blasphemy stoned to death in Pakistan
Author: PTI
Publication: PTI
Date: July 6, 2002
URL: NO URL

A man accused of blasphemy was stoned to death by hundreds of villagers in Pakistan following a religious edict for his execution even as his family begged for mercy and promised to banish him from the village, police said today.

Zahid Shah, 40, was dragged out of his home on Friday in the presence of his wife and brother, and beaten with iron rods and sticks near Chak Jhumra town of Punjab province, police said.

When he fell unconcious, Shah (rpt) Shah was dragged to a village square where the local religious leader Maulvi Faqir Mohammad ordered the mob of villagers to stone him as he regained senses, according to a report in the daily Dawn.

The terror struck family of the victim begged for mercy and promised to banish him from the village, but the mullah stood his ground, residents said.

Shah sustained serious injuries in the stoning and died on the spot, police said.

The family burried the body in nearby Faisalabad without complaining to the police fearing reprisals against them. However, police in the area said they had begun an investigation.

Police which reached the spot four hours after the incident have not made any arrests so far.

"We have started a probe into the incident and we may order exhumation of the body to find out the cause of death," police officer Mohammad Arif told AFP.

A newspaper also quoted a Chak Jumra police station official as saying that it was an "accident incident" and did not fall under the purview of cognisable offence.

The man, who was mentally ill, had claimed to be the "last prophet of Islam".

Shah had earlier been jailed for blasphemy in 1994, but freed three years later on the ground that he was mentally ill.

After his release from jail in 1997 he left his village to live with a brother in nearby Faisalabad city with the case still pending against him.

Last week, he returned to his village and had an altercation with the residents during which he openly used blasphemous remarks against Prophet Mohammad.

A village tribal council immediately banished him.

Shah then left the village and returned on Thursday following which the residents complained to the mullah who issued the order to kill him over a mosque loudspeaker.

The incident comes close on the heels of the punishment gang rape of a tribal girl in Multan on June 22 after her brother was seen walking unchaperoned with a higher tribe girl in a deserted part of a village.