Trolling has surged online in Pakistan since a lockdown, imposed in March over coronavirus concerns, confined tens of millions to their homes, leading to a 50 per cent increase in internet use in this conservative Muslim nation of over 220 million people.
A member of a social media rights group shows a selfie photo of elite police officers taken with Khalid Khan, in white, a smiling gunman who shot and killed Tahir Naseem, a Pakistani-American, in a courtroom in Peshawar while standing trial on a charge of blasphemy, that went viral on the internet after the incident, at his office in Islamabad, Pakistan, Thursday, Aug. 20, 2020.
"It is unprecedented," Shahzad Ahmad of Bytesforall, an Islamabad-based social media rights group, told The Associated Press. Sunni militant groups often target Ahmadis, also known as Qadianis, named after the birthplace in northern India of their sect's founder. The militants consider them heretics because they believe a prophet after Muhammad arrived more than 100 years ago by the name of Ahmad.
In an ominous video on social media, a man introduces a young boy as his son. The child then speaks into the camera, delivering a message to Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan that he "will kill each and every Hindu" if the temple is built. The video got nearly 100,000 clicks. The U.S. State Department said Naseem had been "lured to Pakistan" from his home in Illinois and entrapped by the blasphemy law.
But the trolls were unmoved and last week, Qamar and Saeed appeared in court, charged with blasphemy. The two have not responded to AP requests for comment. This unleashed a vitriolic attack and eventually blasphemy charges were brought against Mirza. The court rejected them.
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