As the embedded video shows (warning: images are graphic and violent), several Pakistani men beat to death two boys in broad daylight. Citizens and police officers were in attendance and no one made any move to stop the public beatings.
As Al Jazeera reports, the killings occurred on August 15 in Sialkot, a town in eastern Punjab province. “Ten people have been arrested in relation to the lynch mob. Four of those under arrest are police officers,” the website reports.
The video has been shown repeatedly on Pakistan TV networks, sparking nation-wide demonstration and attracting international attention. Pakistan’s opposition leaders are standing by the boys’ family to condemn the public beatings.
The two boys have been identified as Moiz Butt, 17, and his brother Muneeb, 15.
The boys were beaten for allegedly taking part in an armed robbery near Sialkot. But reports claim the boys were innocent, only carrying large bags filled with sports equipment because they were obsessed with cricket.
“It is not the kind of incident any civilized society can afford,” said Federal Interior Minister Rehman Malik, according to the Daily Mail. “The whole of Pakistan wants the people involved to be punished. And we are getting demands from the nation that they should be hanged at the very place where they murdered the two brothers.”
