saved<\/a> a young woman wearing a dress with Arabic calligraphy printed on it from a mob attack in Lahore yesterday, said on Monday that the incident took place due to \u201cmere confusion\u201d and \u201cmiscommunication\u201d.<\/p>\nA day earlier, a charged mob had gathered outside a shop in Lahore\u2019s crowded Ichra Bazaar after someone alleged that a woman\u2019s shirt had Quranic verses printed on it.<\/p>\n
As per eyewitnesses, most of the people in the mob were either customers, visitors or passersby, while the garment traders who rescued the woman were aware of the calligraphy print being available in the market. But despite the traders\u2019 explanation, some charged zealots insisted on a \u201cblasphemy\u201d charge.<\/p>\n
A video clip on social media showed the girl hiding in a shop and shivering with fear.<\/p>\n
Sensing the sensitivity of the issue, some police officials present at the site called in their higher-ups. Subsequently, a police team led by ASP Shehr Bano engaged the crowd, took the woman into protective custody and shifted her to the police station amid heightened security measures.<\/p>\n
In a video shared by the Punjab police on X, the ASP could be seen rescuing the woman from the bazaar while a mob hurled abuses in the background. Another showed her addressing the mob, urging them to trust the police while convincing them that no blasphemous act had been committed.<\/p>\n
Speaking to the media today, ASP Shehr Bano provided details on how the incident unfolded.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt 1:30pm, we received a call that a blasphemous act took place near Pakistan Chowk in the jurisdiction of Ichra,\u201d she said. \u201cThe caller chose to stay anonymous and just mentioned that a woman was wearing a dress with calligraphy that, God forbid, seemed to be Quranic verses.\u201d<\/p>\n
Upon arriving at the scene, a charged mob had gathered around the shop where the woman was, she said. \u201cThere, it emerged that the woman was very scared and the mob was religiously charged,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The ASP highlighted that the area was very crowded and congested, which prevented the police from taking their vehicles inside.<\/p>\n
She further highlighted that the shop opposite the one where the woman was supposedly being kept safe had a burning stove, adding that police feared the shop could be set ablaze if the people mobilised.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt that time, our survival instinct kicked in that we need to get the woman out of here. We arranged a burqa<\/em>, covered her face and told people not to take the law into their hands,\u201d she said, adding that the mob was informed about the concept of verification in Islam and assured that prompt action would be taken if a blasphemous incident had taken place.<\/p>\nASP Shehr Bano recalled that the most difficult stage during the operation was transporting the woman from the shop to the police vehicle.<\/p>\n
In response to a question, the police official refused to reveal the woman\u2019s identity. She further stated that the calligraphy on the woman\u2019s clothes did not bear Quranic verses.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe word written [on the clothes] is doing the rounds on social media [\u2026] the meaning of the word is literally sincerity, love, goodness, life, humanity,\u201d she said, adding that the dress belonged to a brand based in a foreign Muslim country.<\/p>\n
To another question, ASP Shehr Bano said the entire incident began when a man in the locality went up to the woman \u2014 who was in the shop along with her husband \u2014 and told her to change her clothes. \u201cThe woman asked why should she change and during that heated argument, considering it a religious matter, people started gathering.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo the situation unfolded because of mere confusion, miscommunication, lack of verification and playing on mob psychology,\u201d the official said.<\/p>\n
She further said that a video which emerged later, that showed the woman apologising alongside religious scholars, was filmed with \u201cconsent\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a police officer, our major concern was that the sanctity, respect and life of that woman should remain safe. Second was that we should not take the law into our hands and there should be due course of justice,\u201d the ASP stressed.<\/p>\n
She further stated that some situations called for \u201clong-term thinking\u201d and that the police had to think about the woman\u2019s long-term safety.<\/p>\n
\u201cTherefore, that video and the coming together of all stakeholders and saying that the incident took place because of confusion was very important so that the life of a victim is protected,\u201d ASP Shehr Bano explained.<\/p>\n
She added that this case should become an example for everyone that action is always preceded by an investigation.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Gulberg Circle Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Shehr Bano Naqvi, who saved a young woman wearing a dress with Arabic calligraphy printed on it from a mob attack in Lahore yesterday, said on Monday that the incident took place due to \u201cmere confusion\u201d and \u201cmiscommunication\u201d. A day earlier, a charged mob had gathered outside a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":64702,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.dawn.com\/large\/2024\/02\/26193906fad9855.png?r=193918","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-64701","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pakistan"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64701","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64701"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64701\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}