Ghulam Haider, 70, a shepherd, had been beaten and had his hand broken. The police shifted him to Bahawal Victoria Hospital on Friday.
He told police that he was grazing his animals when he saw a torn poster lying on the ground, which had sacred verses on it.
He said he picked up the poster and placed it at a higher place, but a part of it fell to the ground. Some unidentified people saw this and beat him up. “If the police had did not arrived in time they would have killed me,” said Haider.
Syed Shafiq Shah, a pir in the area, disagrees with his account.
Shah told a press conference that Haider had torn the poster and was about to throw it in a stream of dirty water, when people saw him and beat him up. Shah held that Haider guilty of blasphemy.
He demanded that the police take action against Haider and if warned of a protest rally if this was not done.
Sohail Zafar Chattha, the DPO, told The Express Tribune that he had investigated the incident and found Shah guilty of inciting violence. Chattha said that Shah was in police custody and is being interrogated. The police want him to reveal the names of the people who beat up Haider.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 8th, 2013.