Ichra incident was ‘false flag’ by Punjab police, claims journalist

It has been almost two weeks since a psychedelic incident in Lahore where an angry mob in Lahore accused a woman who wore a dress adorned with Arabic calligraphy of blasphemy.

The incident saw a brave police officer Shehrbano Naqvi rescued the girl from the mob at Ichra Bazaar to safety.

However, journalist Ali Mustafa made shocking claim about the incident saying that it was “a false flag”.

The former TRT journalist further claimed that it was staged so Punjab Police can “rescue its tattered reputation”.

The journalist took to X and raised wrote: “From what I have learnt from at least three sources over the past few days, the so-called ichra incident where a mob was about to lynch a woman in Lahore over a Arabic printed dress was also a false flag staged by Punjab Police to rescue its tattered reputation following.”

“We can only know full details of what happened once everything is put impartially on record, including an independent verification of what happened from the point of view of the alleged victim, the mob and the Punjab police (the only party that has spoken on the record),” he concluded.

Mustafa also face backlash for his claims from other X users who dubbed it an “irresponsible thing to say without any evidence”.

The incident

An angry mob accused a woman who wore a dress adorned with Arabic calligraphy of blasphemy, after mistaking them for Quran verses.

The situation turned ugly after someone alleged that the teenager’s dress was bearing Quranic verses. However, some shopkeepers defended the girl and provided her shelter in a shop, telling the mob at Ichra Bazaar that it was just an Arabic calligraphy print.

The dress has the word “Halwa” printed in Arabic letters on it, meaning sweet in Arabic.

Police, said, as quoted by BBC, that they received a call at around 13:10 local (08:10 GMT) on Sunday that a crowd had gathered around a woman at a restaurant in Lahore.

After the incident, she apologised for the chaos and stir caused due to the print. In the video shared online, the woman was heard saying, “I had bought the kurta as it had a good design. Did not think people would think in this way.”

“I did not have any intention of insulting the Quran. I apologise for the incident,” she added.

Blasphemy is punishable by death in Pakistan. Some people have been lynched even before their cases go on trial.