| Charsadda arson attack | |
| Location: | Charsadda District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan |
| Date: | 28 November 2021 |
| Target: | police officers |
| Type: | arson attack |
| Fatalities: | 0 |
| Injuries: | 0 |
On 28 November 2021, religiously motivated arsonists destroyed a police station in Charsadda District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.[1] [2]
See main article: Blasphemy in Pakistan. In Pakistan, blasphemy is a very serious crime which carries the death penalty.[2] The Pakistani government have sentenced some prisoners convicted of blasphemy to death, but have not executed anyone.[2] Some blasphemy suspects have been lynched.[2] Domestic and international human rights groups have said that these laws can be abused and used to persecute religious minorities and to take revenge for personal reasons.[2]
On 28 November 2021, police arrested an apparently seriously mentally-ill man for allegedly desecrating a Quran by tearing out some its pages.[1] He was taken to Mandani police station in Tangi Tehsil, Charsadda District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, northwest Pakistan.[1]
Later on the day of the arrest, a group of protesters, whom the police described as a mob of four to five thousand people, gathered outside the police station.[1] They demanded the police hand the suspect to them.[1] The police refused to do so, and during the night the protesters attacked the station, stealing weapons and burning the building down.[1] [2] They also set fire to the vehicles in its car park.[1] The police fled, taking the suspect to an undisclosed location.[1] Following the attack, the mob set fire to a police check post on Harichand Road.[1] They blocked the road and staged a sit-in there.[1] The police dispersed them; eyewitnesses said the police used tear gas and aerial firing to do so.[1]
Later, local leaders of Deobandi Sunni political party Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F) demonstrated in Mandani bazaar, demanding the suspect be punished.[1]