No, man lynched to death over blasphemy allegations in Pakistan is not a Christian - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
February 14, 2023
In light of a recent incident in Nankana Sahib in Pakistan, wherein a man was lynched and set on fire by mob over blasphemy charges, a social media post claiming that the victim, who was set on fire is a Christian is being widely shared. The viral post also shared a video of mob setting a man on fire, attributing the visuals to the recent incident. Through this article let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Mob lynched a Christian and set him on fire over blasphemy charges in Pakistan’s Nankana Sahib.
Fact: The deceased in the mob lynching incident that took place recently in Pakistan’s Nankana Sahib is identified as Muhammad Waris, a Muslim. Multiple news agencies have reported this. Even the concerned police official confirmed that deceased is a Muslim. However, we could not find any report associating the viral visuals to the recent incident. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
According to the news reports, recently in Pakistan’s Nankana Sahib, a mob killed a man who was accused of blasphemy. Earlier, the man was arrested over blasphemy charges, after a mob attacked him for allegedly desecrating the Quran. Later, the mob entered the police station and dragged him out, beat him to death and set him on fire.
Multiple news reports identified the man as Muhammad Waris, a Muslim. And none of the news reports claimed the man as a Christian. These news reports can be viewed here, here and here.
A BBC news report identified the deceased as Wari’s Ali, and his parents as Nooran Bibi and Isa. Further BOOM, a fact-checking agency contacted the Nankana Sahib Police spokesperson, who rejected the viral claim and confirmed that the deceased is a Muslim.
Visuals related to the incident were reported by multiple news agencies, and can be viewed here and here. Although, we could not find the context and location of the video shared in the viral post, we did find any reports associating these visuals to the recent incident.
To sum it up, man lynched to death over blasphemy allegations in Pakistan is not a Christian.