Blasphear

When sub-inspector Waqas Akram is posted at a dusty sizzling Punjab town where a Hindu art teacher has been recently lynched on the accusation of blasphemy against Islam he has already decided to quit police service following a not-so-great career. So when he is assigned the case of a suicide of a seventeen-year-old boy Waqas is tempted to accept the obvious and close the case. The ominous presence of a religious outfit around the boy’s house is another reason to stay away.But Waqas realizes there’s more to the case when the boy’s friend reaches out claiming it was no suicide and that the case is linked to the Hindu teacher’s lynching. Waqas is intrigued as childhood memories of another lynching return to him. From witnesses’ statements he pieces together accounts of friendships that transcended religions before they were ruined by betrayal conspiracy and religious fanaticism.Will Waqas succumb to the terror of religious bigots or will he uphold justice in a society which badly needs it? Sohail Ahmed who writes with the pen name of Sohail Rauf is a PhD in electrical engineering and works for an engineering firm. Originally from Pakistan he lives near Houston Texas with his wife and two children. 'Blasphear' is his first novel. <p>When sub-inspector Waqas Akram is posted at a dusty sizzling Punjab town where a Hindu art teacher has been recently lynched on the accusation of blasphemy against Islam he has already decided to quit police service following a not-so-great career. So when he is assigned the case of a suicide of a seventeen-year-old boy Waqas is tempted to accept the obvious and close the case. The ominous presence of a religious outfit around the boy’s house is another reason to stay away.<br>But Waqas realizes there’s more to the case when the boy’s friend reaches out claiming it was no suicide and that the case is linked to the Hindu teacher’s lynching. Waqas is intrigued as childhood memories of another lynching return to him. From witnesses’ statements he pieces together accounts of friendships that transcended religions before they were ruined by betrayal conspiracy and religious fanaticism.<br>Will Waqas succumb to the terror of religious bigots or will he uphold justice in a society which badly needs it?</p>