Police save Christian couple from mob

[Edevelop]

LAHORE- Police saved a Christian couple from a mob who were attempting to lynch them for allegedly committing blasphemy, and later arrested a cleric for inciting the violence, a senior officer said.

The incident, which took place in the village of Makki in Punjab province on Tuesday, represents a rare successful intervention by authorities in a country where even unproven allegations of blasphemy can result in a bloody death at the hands of vigilantes.

Sohail Zafar Chattha, the district police chief, told the illiterate Christian couple had obtained an old panaflex advertisement awning which contained the names and slogans of various colleges, which they were using as a mat to sleep on in their home.

Arabic inscriptions, allegedly from the Holy Quran, were found among the colleges' slogans, leading one local barber as well as two clerics to accuse the couple of committing blasphemy.

“Muslims of the town gathered there and dragged the poor couple who didn't know what they had done. They were being beaten to death,” Chattha said.

Police save Christian couple from mob