Islamabad, Pakistan – A tourist aged 36 has been killed and his body set afire in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Swat district, after accusations surfaced that he desecrated the Quran, the holy scripture of Muslims.

The event happened on Thursday evening in Madyan, a town nestled in Swat district, renowned for its tourism and situated approximately 280km (174 miles) from Islamabad.

Police officials from Swat indicated that the man, not yet publicly identified, was a traveler from Sialkot, Punjab, and faced accusations of “profaning the Quran.” The specifics of his actions remain unclear.

An anonymous police officer stated, “Our team arrived at Madyan’s main market to apprehend the individual and took him into custody, but an angry crowd demanded his release.”

A large crowd of hundreds of people gathered outside the Madyan police station, where the man was held, attacked the station, and dragged the man out to kill him. The exact manner of his death is not confirmed, although a police source from central Swat police headquarters, an hour away from Madyan, mentioned via a phone call that the man was “tortured to death.” Social media footage shows a throng chanting religious slogans and encircling a flaming body.

Senior Swat police official Zahid Ullah Khan informed the media that the crowd also ignited the police station and a vehicle. Investigations into the incident are ongoing.

The police have yet to verify if a First Information Report (FIR) was filed or if any arrests were made.

The Civil Hospital in Madyan confirmed to Al Jazeera that eight individuals were treated for minor injuries from the incident and had all been discharged.

While traffic in Madyan’s main market was briefly disrupted overnight, local authorities reported that normalcy had returned with businesses operating and tourist traffic resuming.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur condemned the killing and sought an immediate report from the police regarding the incident.

In a release, the chief minister’s office stated that Gandapur directed the provincial police chief to take urgent measures to manage the situation.

Pakistan’s stringent blasphemy laws

Pakistan's blasphemy laws trace back to legislation by British colonial rulers in 1860 intended to curb religious violence between Hindus and Muslims on the Indian subcontinent. These laws remained intact after Pakistan's creation in 1947, but changes began in 1974 when a constitutional amendment categorized the Ahmadiyya sect as “non-Muslim.”

During General Zia-ul-Haq's military rule from 1977 to 1988, the laws were intensified to include criminal offenses like defiling the Quran or insulting Islamic figures.

Blasphemy is still one of Pakistan’s most delicate issues, with mere allegations often inciting widespread violence.

Since 1987, over 2,000 people have been accused of blasphemy, with at least 88 fatalities resulting from such allegations, stated the Centre for Social Justice based in Lahore. The group focuses on minority rights and tracks blasphemy cases in Pakistan.

Recently, in Sargodha, Punjab, a 70-year-old Christian man was seriously injured by a group accusing him of desecrating the Quran. The mob then rioted, torching shops and damaging houses of other Christian families. Although police restrained the violence, the injured man succumbed to his injuries nine days later.

Another incident occurred in February last year in Nankana Sahib, Punjab, where a mob attacked a police station and killed a man accused of blasphemy after dragging him out of police custody.

In August 2023, Christian communities in Jaranwala, Punjab, faced extensive attacks on their homes and churches following allegations of Quran desecration by two brothers. More than 22 churches were burned, and nearly 100 houses were damaged.

Researcher Arafat Mazhar highlighted the critical issues of security and civil rights that blasphemy-related violence presents. “There is nothing more frightening than violence linked to blasphemy,” he said.

Mazhar noted that in the 1980s, the Pakistani state pledged to execute anyone suspected of blasphemy, whether the accusations were valid or not. When the state’s commitments weren’t met, individuals began taking the law into their own hands.

He stressed that the rising intolerance stems from the growth of far-right groups, but the real issue is the blasphemy laws themselves. Mazhar concluded, “The state must reassess its historical commitment, amend these laws significantly, and prevent their misuse.”