Pakistan: Muslim mob attacks police in Lahore after they attempt to arrest radical Islamic preacher Saad Rizvi, whose father coined the murderous slogan ‘Sar Tan se Juda’

Violence erupts in Lahore as police attempts to arrest TLP chief Saad Rizvi ahead of anti-Israel protests
(Image via Dawn)

On Wednesday (8th October), violence erupted in Pakistan’s Lahore as the local police launched a crackdown on the headquarters of Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) to arrest its chief Saad Rizvi.

As per the local media, three police constables were injured during the clashes as TLP supporters attacked the police with stones and iron rods. The police unleashed tear-gas shelling to bring the situation in control. Some videos on social media show TLP supporters holding spent bullet casings and tear gas shells.

Ironically, Pakistan does not recognise the state of Israel officially and has joined the Islamic ‘Ummah’ in accusing the country of committing ‘genocide’ of Palestinian Muslims, however, the Pakistani puppet government is opposed to TLP protesting against Israel.

This crackdown on the Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan came after the outfit announced plans for a huge anti-Israel protest outside the US embassy on the coming Friday.

The Islamabad administration has started placing shipping containers at the Faizabad Interchange, the historical site of several TLP protests.

TLP and Sar Tan Se Juda

For decades now, Islamists in India have mastered the veto of street violence and protests to fulfil their demands and instil a sense of fear among those who dare to enunciate uncomfortable facts. But of late, those protests have gone a step further, devolving into starker violence and featuring a nefarious chant of ‘Sar Tan Se Juda’ that has come to define the blasphemy rage coursing through the country.

“Gustakh-e-Rasool ki Ek hi saza, sar tan se Juda, sar tan se Juda”, which translates to “There is only one punishment for being disrespectful to Rasool (Prophet Muhammad), their head separated from their torso, their head separated from the torso”, an Islamist clarion call, has become a staple feature of violent protests that have so far claimed the lives of at least 6 Hindus, including Kanhaiya Lal in Udaipur and Umesh Kolhe in Amravati, after Muslim fundamentalists, egged on by the dog-whistling of Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair against former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma, resorted to violence for what they perceived as ‘blasphemy’ against Prophet Muhammad.

Though the slogan has been all the rage among Islamists across India, its origins are beyond the country’s northwest borders. Like all things Islamists, “Sar Tan Se Juda” chants are an imported concept adopted from neighbouring Pakistan, where targeting and attacking minorities, especially Hindus and Christians, in the name of blasphemy has become par for the course for the country’s overwhelmingly extremist and Islamist population.

The radicalised outcry that has taken over the streets of India was first used more than a decade ago in the wake of a brazen assassination of the governor of Punjab, Pakistan. And ever since, the slogan has found currency among the rabble-rousers determined to whip up hatred and anger against non-Muslims in the name of blasphemy.

In 2011, the governor of the Punjab province of Pakistan, Salman Taseer was murdered by his own guard Mumtaz Qadri who disagreed with Taseer’s opposition to Pakistan’s blasphemy law. Khadim Hussain Rizvi, a Maulana in Pakistan at the time hailed Qadri for assassinating Taseer and declared him a ‘Ghazi’. He led a procession with thousands of people in attendance, who raised provocative slogans against the former governor of Punjab, Pakistan, and hailed Qadri as a hero.

The procession, organised by the radical Barelvi terror outfit Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), amplified the slogan among the masses of Pakistan in 2011 to shield Mumtaz Qadri. Two slogans were chiefly chanted during the procession. One was “Rasool Allah, Rasool Allah” and the other, “Gustakh-e-Rasool Ki Ek Hi Zaza, Sar Tan Se Juda, Sar Tan Se Juda.” Rizvi would ask the audience during the mass demonstrations, “Gustakh-e-Rasool ki Ek hi Saza?” The protestors would respond by chanting “Sar Tan Se Juda, Sar Tan Se Juda”.

Written by OpIndia Staff
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