KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) 鈥� Police in southern Pakistan shot dead a blasphemy suspect during an alleged shootout with armed men, officials said Thursday, the second such apparent extra-judicial killing in a week, drawing strong condemnation from human rights groups.
Police identified the slain man as Shah Nawaz, a medical doctor in the Umerkot district in the Sindh province, who had gone into hiding two days ago after being accused of insulting Islam鈥檚 Prophet Muhammad and sharing blasphemous content on social media.
Local police chief Niaz Khoso insisted that Nawaz was 鈥渒illed just by chance鈥� on Wednesday night when officers singled two men riding on a motorcycle to stop in Mirpur Khas, a city in the southern Sindh province.
He said instead of stopping, the men opened fire and tried to flee, prompting police to return fire.
He said one of the suspects fled on the motorcycle, while the other was killed.
Khoso claimed that it was only after the shootout that officers learned that the slain man was the doctor being sought by them for the alleged blasphemy.
The killing of Nawaz drew strong condemnation from the country鈥檚 independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan or HRCH, which said it was 鈥済ravely concerned by the alleged extrajudicial killing of two people accused of blasphemy.
鈥淭his pattern of violence in cases of blasphemy, in which law enforcement personnel are allegedly involved, is an alarming trend,鈥� it said in a statement. HRCP also asked the government to conduct an independent inquiry to ascertain who was responsible for Nawaz鈥檚 death and ensure those responsible for it were punished.
The killing of Nawaz in Mirpur Khas came a day after Islamists in a nearby city, Umerkot, staged a protest, demanding his arrest. The mob also burned Nawaz's clinic on Wednesday, local officials said.
The latest killing comes a week after an officer opened fire inside a police station in the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta, fatally wounding Syed Khan, another . Khan was arrested on Wednesday after officers rescued him from an enraged mob that claimed he had insulted Islam鈥檚 Prophet.
But he was killed by a police officer, Mohammad Khurram, who was quickly arrested.
However, the tribe and the family of the slain man said they pardoned the officer, saying that Khan hurt the sentiments of Muslims by insulting Islam's Holy Prophet Muhammad.
Though killings of blasphemy suspects by mobs are common, the extra-judicial killings by police are rare in Pakistan, where accusations of blasphemy 鈥� sometimes even just rumors 鈥� often spark rioting and rampage by mobs that can escalate into lynchings.
Under Pakistan鈥檚 controversial blasphemy laws, anyone found guilty of 鈥� though authorities have yet to carry out a death sentence for blasphemy.
Pakistan has witnessed a surge in attacks on blasphemy suspects in recent years.
In June, a mob broke into a police station in the northwestern town of Madyan, snatched a detainee who was a tourist, and then lynched him over , the Quran.
Last year, a mob in the eastern Punjab province after claiming they saw a local Christian and his friend desecrating pages from a Quran. The , but Christians say the men linked to the violence are yet to be put on trial.
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Ahmed reported from Islamabad. Associated Press writer Asim Tanveer contributed to the story from Multan, Pakistan.
Adil Jawad And Munir Ahmed, The Associated Press
