An angry mob in Pakistan accused a woman who wore a dress adorned with Arabic calligraphy of blasphemy, after mistaking them for Quran verses.
She was saved by police who escorted her to safety after hundreds gathered. She later gave a public apology.
The dress has the word “Halwa” printed in Arabic letters on it, meaning beautiful in Arabic.
Blasphemy is punishable by death in Pakistan. Some people have been lynched even before their cases go on trial.
I am an atheist living in Pakistan, and incidents like these send a shiver down my spine. If this woman had not been sheltered by shopkeepers and the police had not acted quickly, she would definitely have been lynched and murdered.
The mob of zealots that had gathered around her was chanting "“Gustakh-e-Rasool ki ek hi saza, sar tan se juda, sar tan se juda”, which roughly translates to “what do blasphemers deserve? decapitation! decapitation!”
This country is fucked.