Pakistan police shoot dead blasphemy suspect

Police in southern Pakistan have shot dead a doctor accused of blasphemy, drawing condemnation from human rights groups.

Dr Shahnawaz Kanbhar was killed "just by chance" in shootout with officers who did not know it was him, according to a local police chief in Sindh province Niaz Khoso

Dr Kanbhar had gone into hiding on Tuesday after being accused of insulting Islam’s prophet Muhammad and sharing blasphemous content on social media.

He is the second blasphemy suspect in Pakistan to be shot dead in the space of a week.

According to a police report, officers in the city of Mirpur Khas had tried to stop two men riding on a motorcycle on Wednesday, in order to search their vehicle.

Instead of complying, the report says, one of the men opened fire. A gun battle ensued, in which Dr Kanbhar was killed.

It was only after the shootout that officers learned that the man they had shot was Dr Kanbhar, according to Khoso, the local police chief. The second person on the motorcycle escaped.

Another police official, Khas Asad Chaudhry, told BBC Urdu that Dr Kanbhar was accidentally shot by his companion on the motorcycle.

However, a relative of Dr Kanbhar has told BBC Urdu that he was killed in a "fake encounter" - something which local police deny.

The Interior Minister for Sindh province Zia-ul-Hasan Linjar has ordered an independent inquiry into Dr Kanbhar's death.

The killing of Dr Kanbhar comes a week after an officer opened fire inside a police station in the south-western city of Quetta, fatally wounding another suspect who was being held on accusations of blasphemy.

The deaths have drawn strong condemnation from the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), which said it was “gravely concerned by the alleged extrajudicial killing of two people accused of blasphemy.”

“This pattern of violence in cases of blasphemy, in which law enforcement personnel are allegedly involved, is an alarming trend,” it said in a statement issued on Friday.

Dr Kanbhar was shot dead a day after Islamists in nearby Umerkot staged a protest demanding his arrest and burned down his clinic.

His relatives told BBC Urdu that they had to travel for miles to bury his body, after having been blocked by local people and officials.

The incident in Sindh province comes a week after an officer opened fire inside a police station in the south-western city of Quetta, fatally wounding another suspect held on accusations of blasphemy.

The man had been arrested last Wednesday after officers rescued him from an enraged mob that claimed he had insulted Muhammad.

However, the man's family and tribe said they forgave the officer and that the man had hurt the sentiments of Muslims by insulting Muhammad, according to local media reports.

Though killings of blasphemy suspects by mobs are common, such killings by police are rare in Pakistan.

Accusations, or even simply rumours, of blasphemy spark rioting and rampage by mobs that can escalate into killings.

Under Pakistan’s blasphemy laws, anyone found guilty of insulting Islam or Islamic religious figures can be sentenced to death – though authorities have yet to carry out a death sentence for blasphemy.

Pakistan has witnessed a surge in attacks on blasphemy suspects in recent years.

In June, a mob broke into a police station in the north-western town of Madyan, snatched a detainee who was a tourist, and then killed him over allegations that he had desecrated Islam’s holy book.