Chinese engineer is rescued from furious mob and faces potential death penalty for ‘blasphemy’ in Pakistan after complaining about the ‘slow pace of work’ during Ramadan
- Police identified man as Mr Tian from China and said he was arrested on Sunday
- After mobsters rallied before arrest, they also stormed police station on Monday
A Chinese worker has been put under police protection after a furious mob surrounded his office in Pakistan and accused him of insulting Islam, which could be punished with the death penalty under Pakistani blasphemy laws.
Police identified the man only as Mr Tian from China and said he was arrested on Sunday night, hours after hundreds of residents and labourers working at a dam project in northern Pakistan blocked a key highway and rallied to demand his arrest.
According to local police chief Naseer-ud-Din Khan, the accusations arose from a workplace disagreement: Tian allegedly became upset and reprimanded two local drivers for taking too much time from work to pray.
Other labourers at the Dasu hydropower project in the Kohistan district then claimed he had insulted the Prophet Mohammad.
‘The labourers said they were fasting but denied that work had slowed down, which led to an exchange of heated words’ with the supervisor, a police official said on condition of anonymity.
Police identified the man only as Mr Tian from China and said he was arrested on Sunday night, hours after hundreds of residents and labourers working at a dam project in northern Pakistan blocked a key highway and rallied to demand his arrest
According to local police chief Naseer-ud-Din Khan, the accusations arose from a workplace disagreement: Tian allegedly became upset and reprimanded two local drivers for taking too much time from work to pray.
‘Later, the labourers accused the engineer of making blasphemous remarks’ and around 400 locals gathered to protest, he added.
The rally took place in the town of Komela – located close to the site of the Dasu Dam, the biggest hydropower project in Pakistan – in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which borders Afghanistan, according to Khan.
A local administration official in Dasu, around 180 kilometres (110 miles) north of the capital Islamabad, said army and paramilitary troops were deployed ‘to ensure the safety of the engineers’.
Khan added that officers quickly responded to the protests by ‘rescuing and arresting’ the Chinese national on Sunday afternoon, but mobsters weren’t satisfied and stormed the main district police station on Monday morning, believing Tian was hiding in the building, the police chief added.
But officials, fearing the man might be attacked, had moved him to another district by military helicopter, Khan said. Tian was charged and had so far declined to give a statement, police officials said.
Khan said the crowd attacked the police station as officers were preparing the prosecution paperwork on Monday. ‘The mob dispersed only after they were shown a copy of the case registered on blasphemy charges,’ he said.
Police said Tian, who was in charge of heavy transport at the project, will be tried under blasphemy laws if investigators prove he insulted Islam.
Hoqwever, Muhammad Nazir, a police official in Dasu, said ‘formal police action’ has not yet started against the Chinese national in Dasu ‘as authorities are trying to solve this issue peacefully’.
Another police official said that ‘local clerics and village elders are negotiating with the workers to solve this issue’.
Blasphemy is a crime under Pakistani law that can be punishable with death.
There was no immediate comment from the Chinese Embassy in Islamabad.
The blocked highway later reopened to traffic and work resumed at the Dasu Dam, which has scores of Chinese and hundreds of Pakistanis working on the project, Khan said.
Mob attacks on people accused of blasphemy and even lynching attacks are common in Pakistan, a conservative Muslim country.
Rights groups say blasphemy accusations have often been used to intimidate religious minorities and settle personal scores.
Videos circulating on social media showed an angry mob demonstrating outside a sprawling compound housing Chinese and Pakistani construction workers in Komela.
The demonstrators can be heard chanting ‘God is great’ as security forces fire shots in the air to disperse the crowds.
No one has ever been executed for it in Pakistan and although arrests of Muslims and non-Muslims on charges of blasphemy are common in Pakistan, foreigners are rarely among those arrested.
Rights groups say hundreds of people are languishing in prison accused of blasphemy as judges delay trials, fearing retribution against themselves.
In 2021, however, a mob lynched a Sri Lankan man at a sports factory in eastern Punjab province and later burned his body in public over allegations he desecrated posters bearing the name of the Prophet Muhammad.
In July 2021, work on the Dasu Dam was suspended for several months following a deadly suicide attack targeting a bus carrying Chinese and Pakistani nationals in Kohistan district, where the dam is located. The bombing killed 13 people, including nine Chinese nationals.
The Chinese resumed work on the project last year, when Pakistan enhanced security. Pakistani and Chinese engineers are trying to complete the project by 2026.
Monday’s developments came days after Punjab police arrested a Muslim woman on charges of blasphemy after she allegedly claimed she was an Islamic prophet.
She was taken into custody from her home after a mob had gathered outside demanding that she be lynched after news spread of her alleged claims of prophethood.
Meanwhile, a mob of Sunni Muslims demolished a minaret at a mosque belonging to the minority Ahmadis in Sargodha district in Punjab, the minority’s spokesman said.
There are about half a million of Ahmadis in Pakistan, which has a population of 220 million.
Pakistan declared Ahmadis non-Muslims in 1974. Ahmadi homes and places of worship are often targeted by Sunni militants who consider them heretics.
Amir Mahmood, a spokesman for the Ahmadi community, said the attack happened overnight and allegedly in the presence of police.
There was no immediate comment from the police.
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