When Rumour Becomes a Public Emergency

Introduction

These episodes matter because belief is rarely the only force at work. Pakistan’s panics grow where religious sensitivity, political mobilisation, weak trust in institutions, economic insecurity and rapid communication reinforce one another. A mosque loudspeaker, a staged video or a forwarded message can transform an unverified claim into an apparent public fact before police, doctors or journalists have established what happened. The consequences have included destroyed neighbourhoods, lynchings, disrupted immunisation campaigns and lasting fear among minorities and health workers.[hrcp-web.org]hrcp-web.org4, 2024 — 2 Jun 2024 — Allegations of blasphemy and mob violence in…Published: June 4, 2024

The clearest lesson is that these events should not all be called “mass hysteria”. Some involve genuine physical symptoms shaped by fear; others are moral panics, organised incitement, persecution or opportunistic violence. Treating them as one irrational national tendency would conceal the institutions, interests and social pressures that allow them to spread.

When an accusation becomes a public emergency

Blasphemy allegations provide Pakistan’s starkest examples of fear and moral outrage outrunning evidence. The central belief is not simply that an offence may have occurred, but that the alleged act represents an immediate threat to the moral and religious order, demanding public action before courts can investigate. Once an accusation circulates, suspects, relatives, neighbours and sometimes entire minority districts can be treated as collectively responsible.

The destruction in Jaranwala, Punjab, on 16 August 2023 shows the pattern clearly. Rumours that two Christian residents had desecrated sacred scripture circulated early in the day. Calls made through mosque loudspeakers helped gather crowds, and thousands of people moved through Christian localities, attacking churches and houses. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan found that buildings in 11 localities were torched or looted. Amnesty International later reported that the allegations against the two men had been proved false, while more than 20 churches and over 80 Christian homes had been vandalised or destroyed.[Amnesty International]amnesty.orgInternational One year since Jaranwala attack, minority Christians awaitAmnesty InternationalOne year since Jaranwala attack, minority Christians await…August 16, 2024 — 16 Aug 2024 — On 16 August 2023, all…Published: August 16, 2024

Jaranwala was not a spontaneous burst of identical emotion. It involved several processes operating together:

This distinction matters. Calling Jaranwala “mass hysteria” would risk presenting organised persecution as an involuntary psychological episode. “Moral panic” captures part of the story because a symbolic threat was magnified and a minority was turned into a “folk devil”. Yet even that phrase is incomplete unless it includes incitement, local power struggles, property interests and failures of law enforcement. HRCP reported that police initially sought to appease the gathering and were slow to prevent the attacks, while Amnesty found that accountability and compensation remained incomplete one year later.[Amnesty International]amnesty.orgAmnesty InternationalPAKISTANOctober 17, 2024 — 14 Oct 2024 — of the Jaranwala incident, many suspects involved in the mob violence remai…Published: October 17, 2024

A similar escalation occurred in Mujahid Colony, Sargodha, in May 2024. An allegation that a Christian family had deliberately burnt pages of sacred text was amplified through an announcement and WhatsApp messages. Several hundred people gathered. Police evacuated members of the family, but Nazir Masih was caught and severely beaten; he later died from his injuries. HRCP’s fact-finding account illustrates how digital messaging and face-to-face mobilisation now reinforce one another: the rumour did not remain an online claim but supplied a crowd with a target, location and supposed moral justification.[HRCP]hrcp-web.org4, 2024 — 2 Jun 2024 — Allegations of blasphemy and mob violence in…Published: June 4, 2024

The danger continues even after police take an accused person into custody. In June 2024, a crowd entered a police station in Madyan and killed a tourist detained over an allegation of desecration. In September that year, two blasphemy suspects were killed by police officers in separate cases, demonstrating how the presumption of guilt can penetrate the institutions meant to protect defendants.[AP News]apnews.comOpen source on apnews.com.

Human-rights reporting suggests that this is not a sequence of isolated misunderstandings. HRCP stated that more than 750 people were imprisoned on blasphemy charges as of October 2024 and warned of repeated mob attacks, arbitrary prosecutions and intimidation of religious minorities. False or malicious allegations may be used to settle personal disputes, remove unwanted neighbours, seize property or silence vulnerable people, but the allegation works because the surrounding public already recognises its explosive power.[HRCP]hrcp-web.org2025 Streets of fear EN2025 Streets of fear EN

The polio panic that sent thousands to hospital

The vaccine scare in and around Peshawar on 22 April 2019 is Pakistan’s clearest modern example of a manufactured claim producing mass bodily alarm. Videos circulated during an anti-polio campaign appearing to show children falling ill after receiving oral vaccine drops. One recording reportedly showed a schoolteacher instructing pupils to lie down and pretend to be sick.

The footage spread faster than official reassurance. Panicked parents brought roughly 25,000 children to hospitals, although doctors found no vaccine-related adverse reaction among those examined. A health facility was attacked and partly burned, vaccination activity was disrupted, and the man associated with the staged footage was arrested.[Voice of America]voanews.comVoice of AmericaScaremongering Video Undermines Anti-Polio Drive in…23 Apr 2019 — Police in Peshawar have detained a key suspect as pa…

This episode contained an element resembling mass psychogenic illness: fear, expectation and social observation may produce or intensify real symptoms such as nausea, dizziness, trembling or fainting even when no toxin is present. Such symptoms are not necessarily fabricated. However, the Peshawar event cannot be reduced to a clinical outbreak. It began with deliberate staging, entered a population already exposed to vaccine conspiracy theories, and produced a wider social panic in which ordinary childhood complaints were interpreted through the same frightening story.

Research on the episode describes the videos as a turning point in Pakistan’s polio misinformation crisis. Social media allowed an emotionally powerful visual claim to circulate without its context, while corrective information arrived after people had already seen apparently sick children. The resulting panic reduced confidence in vaccination and damaged the credibility of health authorities.[PMC]pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.govOpen source on nih.gov.

Why the rumour was believable

The scare did not emerge in an empty information environment. Vaccine mistrust in Pakistan has been shaped by several overlapping pressures:

These circumstances do not make false vaccine claims true. They explain why a correction stating that the oral vaccine is safe may fail to answer the deeper question many families are asking: why should this particular campaign and its institutions be trusted?

The harm has been tangible. Misinformation has encouraged refusals, interrupted campaigns and increased danger for the largely female workforce that visits homes. Militants and other attackers have killed vaccinators and police escorts, while repeated rumours force health workers to defend themselves against claims of sterilisation, espionage or poisoning. Pakistan nevertheless reduced reported polio cases from 74 in 2024 to 30 in 2025, showing that distrust is serious but not universal or irreversible.[AP News]apnews.comOpen source on apnews.com.

Successful responses have therefore relied on more than issuing scientific facts. Programmes have worked with local doctors, religious figures, community leaders and women health workers who can address concerns through trusted relationships. In 2022, for example, a false online claim that a child had died after vaccination was countered with a video statement from the doctor involved and referrals to platform and regulatory authorities.[UNICEF]unicef.orgfighting polio vaccine misinformationfighting polio vaccine misinformation

Child-kidnap rumours and the creation of a stranger-danger mob

Fear for children can spread especially quickly because waiting for verification feels morally risky: people believe that failing to act may allow a child to disappear. In Pakistan, this dynamic has sometimes turned unfamiliar workers, travellers or socially marginal people into suspected abductors.

On 28 October 2022, two telecommunications employees entered Machhar Colony in Karachi while carrying out work. A false rumour identified them as child kidnappers. A crowd attacked and killed both men. Police later said that messages had circulated claiming abductors were present near a school, and dozens of suspects were detained.[Wikipedia]WikipediaMachar colony incidentMachar colony incident

The case demonstrates how a rumour supplies a complete story from very little evidence. An unfamiliar vehicle becomes a surveillance car; technical equipment becomes kidnapping gear; questions asked by workers become an attempt to lure children. Once the crowd adopts that interpretation, the victims’ explanations can be treated as further deception.

Child-abduction scares are not wholly invented from nothing. Pakistan has genuine cases of missing, trafficked and exploited children, and families may have sound reasons to distrust slow investigations. The panic lies in the leap from a real social danger to the assumption that a particular stranger is guilty. The rumour gives frightened communities a visible enemy and creates the illusion that immediate violence is protective action.

The cross-border afterlife of one Pakistani video shows how easily such material loses its original meaning. A 2016 awareness advertisement made for a Pakistani organisation demonstrated how rapidly a child could be taken in a public place. Edited and stripped of context, the footage later circulated in India as supposed evidence of actual child kidnappers and contributed to a broader climate of fear there. The images were genuine; the accompanying claim was not.[WIRED]wired.comHow Whats App Fuels Fake News and Violence in IndiaHow Whats App Fuels Fake News and Violence in India

This is a recurring feature of digital panic. The most persuasive misinformation is often not entirely fabricated. It combines authentic video, a real social problem and a false explanation. Viewers who focus on whether an image has been digitally altered may miss the more common manipulation: an old, staged or unrelated recording presented as proof of a current local threat.

Supernatural belief, healing and the limits of the “cult” label

Belief in possession, harmful magic and spiritual healing is visible in Pakistan, but the evidence does not support describing the country as dominated by organised “cults”. Much of what outsiders might place under that label consists of ordinary religious belief, individual healers, family practices or informal networks rather than closed organisations demanding exclusive loyalty.

The distinction is important because “cult” is often a hostile description rather than a neutral category. A minority sect, unconventional religious community or charismatic preacher may be called a cult by opponents without evidence of coercive control. More useful questions are whether leaders isolate followers, exploit them financially, demand dangerous obedience, conceal abuse or prevent access to medical care.

Pakistan’s parliament has repeatedly considered legislation against magic, sorcery and fraudulent spiritual services. A proposed amendment examined by a National Assembly committee sought to punish people who practised or advertised black magic, witchcraft or sorcery, including services offered under the appearance of spiritual healing or counselling. The initiative reflected concern about fraud and exploitation, but it also revealed a legal difficulty: rules intended to punish abusive practitioners can appear to confirm that supernatural harm itself is an objectively prosecutable act.[Senate of Pakistan]senate.gov.pkOpen source on senate.gov.pk.

At the individual level, supernatural interpretations can shape how distress is understood. Pakistani clinicians have documented patients whose experiences were explained by relatives as spirit possession when psychiatric assessment indicated conditions requiring medical treatment. Mental-health specialists caution that culturally familiar possession narratives may delay care, intensify stigma or lead families towards coercive treatment. At the same time, sensitive clinical practice should not ridicule religious belief; cooperation with responsible religious advisers may help families accept treatment.[psychiatryonline.org]psychiatryonline.orgOpen source on psychiatryonline.org.

This is different from mass psychogenic illness. A person interpreting panic attacks, psychosis or trauma as possession is not necessarily participating in a contagious group episode. A true group outbreak would require multiple people developing related symptoms within a connected setting, usually after observing one another or sharing a feared exposure. Reports of “possessed” pupils or collective fainting should therefore be investigated first for environmental hazards, infection, heat, dehydration and other physical causes. Only after those are excluded should a psychogenic explanation be considered.

Why rumours travel so effectively

Pakistan’s panics are often described as products of ignorance or superstition, but that explanation is both insulting and inadequate. Rumours flourish when they provide a compelling answer to unresolved danger and when official institutions lack enough trust to displace them.

Research examining misinformation across Pakistani WhatsApp groups, Twitter and YouTube found recurring use of emotional appeals, conspiracy narratives, religious and political polarisation, false facts and impersonation of credible authorities. These techniques work because they make the receiver feel that the information has already been verified by someone respectable or personally connected to them.[arXiv]arxiv.orgarXiv Investigating Misinformation Dissemination on Social Media in PakistanarXiv Investigating Misinformation Dissemination on Social Media in Pakistan

Several structural conditions repeatedly appear:

Unequal institutional trust. Police, courts, healthcare systems and political authorities may be experienced as inconsistent, remote or partisan. An official denial can consequently be interpreted as concealment.

Moral urgency. Alleged threats to children, health or sacred values discourage patience. Sharing a warning seems responsible even when the sender cannot verify it.

Dense local communication. Mosque announcements, neighbourhood networks and family messaging groups can mobilise people rapidly. Digital and offline communication are not separate systems; a message on a phone may become a street announcement within minutes.

Visible but misleading proof. Video supplies emotional immediacy. Viewers may correctly perceive that the people and location are real while accepting an invented account of why the scene occurred.

Existing social divisions. Minorities, migrants, poor strangers and unpopular individuals are easier to imagine as secret offenders. Panic does not select targets randomly; it follows established inequalities.

Weak consequences for instigators. Arrests often follow lethal violence, but incomplete prosecutions and slow compensation can leave communities expecting that a future crowd will enjoy similar impunity.[Amnesty International]amnesty.orgInternational One year since Jaranwala attack, minority Christians awaitAmnesty InternationalOne year since Jaranwala attack, minority Christians await…August 16, 2024 — 16 Aug 2024 — On 16 August 2023, all…Published: August 16, 2024

Experiments in urban Pakistan suggest that generic media-literacy messages have limited effects. Participants improved more when educational material included personalised feedback connected to their own previous engagement with false stories. This supports a broader lesson from vaccine campaigns: corrections are more effective when they address the audience’s actual reasoning and come through relationships they trust.[arXiv]arxiv.orgOpen source on arxiv.org.

What authorities can do before fear becomes violence

The first task in any suspected poisoning, possession outbreak or mass illness is to protect affected people and investigate physical causes. Prematurely announcing “hysteria” can humiliate patients and allow a genuine hazard to be overlooked. Conversely, authorities should not confirm poisoning, supernatural attack or conspiracy merely because frightened people report similar symptoms.

Rumour-driven violence requires a different response. Police must protect the accused immediately, prevent inflammatory announcements, preserve digital evidence and separate verification from crowd appeasement. Moving a suspect into custody is not enough when police stations can themselves be attacked or when officials share the crowd’s assumptions.

Fast corrections also need credible messengers. A government statement may be necessary, but local doctors, teachers, clerics and community representatives can often communicate more effectively. Corrections should state what investigators know, what remains uncertain and what action people should take. Simply branding frightened residents as foolish may strengthen the belief that authorities are hostile.

Longer-term prevention depends on reducing the conditions that make rumours useful. Reliable policing makes vigilante action less attractive. Accessible healthcare reduces reliance on exploitative healers. Fair application of law weakens the expectation that an accusation is equivalent to a conviction. Protection of minorities prevents moral outrage from becoming collective punishment.

How these episodes should be remembered

Pakistan’s history of collective fear is not a story about an unusually irrational population. It is a history of what happens when credible anxieties are joined to unreliable explanations and powerful methods of mobilisation.

The polio scare began with fabricated evidence, but it succeeded because vaccine distrust had a history. Child-kidnap rumours exploit genuine concern about missing children but redirect it towards innocent strangers. Blasphemy mobs invoke sincere religious feeling, yet their violence is shaped by incitement, unequal citizenship, local disputes and institutional failure. Beliefs about possession may offer families a culturally familiar explanation for distress, but they can become harmful when they replace careful diagnosis or justify abuse.

The most useful distinction is therefore not between modern reason and old superstition. It is between claims that have been investigated and claims that acquire authority through repetition, emotion or force. Pakistan’s best-documented panics show that rumours become socially powerful not because everyone believes exactly the same thing, but because enough people act as though immediate obedience is safer than doubt.

Amazon book picks

Further Reading

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Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds

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Provides historical comparisons for modern rumours and panics.

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The Demon-Haunted World

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Endnotes

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Title: HRCPMob-led destruction of churches in Jaranwala, Punjab
Link:https://hrcp-web.org/hrcpweb/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/2023-Mob-led-destruction-of-churches-in-Jaranwala.pdf

2. Source: Wikipedia
Title: Machar colony incident
Link:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machar_colony_incident

3. Source: amnesty.org
Title: International One year since Jaranwala attack, minority Christians await
Link:https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2024/08/pakistan-one-year-since-jaranwala-attack-minority-christians-await-justice/

Published: August 16, 2024

4. Source: amnesty.org
Link:https://www.amnesty.org/fr/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/ASA3385762024ENGLISH.pdf

Published: October 17, 2024

5. Source: hrcp-web.org
Title: 2025 Under siege EN
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6. Source: hrcp-web.org
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Published: June 4, 2024

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Additional References

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