Categories: World

Pakistanis shower petals, click selfies with smiling assassin who killed US citizen

Where in the world is a murderer kissed and hugged by the lawyers after pumping in several bullets into an elderly man right inside a courtroom?

Where in the world do policemen line up to take selfies with the smiling assassin?

Moreover, where in the world is a man allowed to bring a loaded gun inside a courtroom and kill a man undergoing a trial?

Nowhere except Pakistan.

It is in Imran Khan's '<a href="https://indianarrative.com/world/maulvi-orders-ancient-buddha-statue-goes-under-the-hammer-in-pakistan-5879.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><strong>naya Pakistan</strong></a>' that murderers are hailed as heroes, kissed, hugged and celebrated for unleashing the carnage.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">1000s came out to glorify the killer of <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TahirNaseem?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TahirNaseem</a> in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Peshawar?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Peshawar</a>. If you ask the same crowd to rally agaisnt enforced disappearances, none will come out. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Terrorists?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Terrorists</a> <a href="https://t.co/Q7CfwofW17">pic.twitter.com/Q7CfwofW17</a></p>
— Dr. As¡m Yousafza¡ (@asimusafzai) <a href="https://twitter.com/asimusafzai/status/1289271199327858688?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 31, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Last week, 24-year-old Khalid shot dead Tahir Ahmed Naseem, a US citizen, inside a Peshawar courtroom.

As India Narrative had <a href="http://(https://indianarrative.com/world/us-citizen-shot-dead-in-a-peshawar-courtroom-for-being-an-ahmadi-7605.html">reported</a> earlier, Naseem belonged to the Ahmadiyya faith and was arrested two years ago. He was charged with blasphemy under the Pakistan Penal Code.

Khalid said he killed Naseem because he was an Ahmadi, an "enemy of Islam."

The dastardly act and the chest thumping statement was enough to turn Khalid into an overnight celebrity in a country full of radical Islamists.

In a society head over heels in love with Turkish series Dirilis Ertugrul – based on stories of the 12th century Muslim Oghuz Turk and criticized severely for promoting incidents of radicalism from the past – the young murderer has been projected as a hero on social media and labeled as a gazi warrior.

The same men who should really be on the job investigating how he managed to sneak in with a gun in a busy court are now protecting Khalid and clicking selfies with him.

Sickeningly, he was also greeted with rose petals by members of the Peshawar Bar and the Peshawar Elite force.

Enough proof that toxic, dangerous mentality is sinking Pakistan fast.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="fr">SALUTE GHAZI <a href="https://t.co/AOJS8QkyvT">pic.twitter.com/AOJS8QkyvT</a></p>
— Syed ShahrozSabzwari (@ShahrozSabzwari) <a href="https://twitter.com/ShahrozSabzwari/status/1288867139017940993?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 30, 2020</a></blockquote>
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"Mr. Naseem had been lured to Pakistan from his home in Illinois by individuals who then used Pakistan’s blasphemy laws to entrap him. The U.S. Government has been providing consular assistance to Mr. Naseem and his family since his detention in 2018," said Michael Kugelman, a South Asia analyst.

United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) is also worried about the current human rights situation in Pakistan. Many other organizations have also approached the United Nations highlighting the gross violations being committed in Pakistan.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">On left we have Khalid, who killed a mentally-ill man accused of blasphemy. On right, Brenton Tarrant, who killed 51 people at N Zealand mosques. They look satisfied with what they did, both driven by twisted beliefs & achieving gratification. Difference is our nation's response <a href="https://t.co/Lz2piisQY8">pic.twitter.com/Lz2piisQY8</a></p>
— Bilal Farooqi (@bilalfqi) <a href="https://twitter.com/bilalfqi/status/1289871376019578883?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 2, 2020</a></blockquote>
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"Pakistan is moving towards deliberate and systematic destruction of the Ahmadiyya community and Pakistan uses state mechanisms to prevent Ahmadiyyas to practice their religion. Ordinance XX1 of 1991 in effect prohibited Ahmadiyyas from declaring or propagating their faith publicly, building mosques or making the call for Muslim prayer. To prevent Ahmadiyyas from practicing their religion, the state uses vigilant public policing on the Ahmadi community," an Udaipur based geopolitical and security affairs think tank, Usanas Foundation, wrote in a letter to the United Nations recently.

The way things have been progressing there's every possibility of Khalid being roped in by the Pakistani terror organizations soon. It can, of course, happen only in Pakistan!.

Ateet Sharma

Ateet Sharma reads the pulse of the geopolitical contests in Eurasia, and India’s outreach in the region and beyond.

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