People outside the restaurant in Lahore took offense at the Arabic calligraphy on the woman’s dress while she was dining.
Though the word “halwa” (meaning “beautiful” in Arabic) was printed on the clothing, the audience mistaken it for passages from the Koran, the sacred book of Muslims.
They can be heard screaming in the video for her to remove the clothing, and some of them are even yelling that people who commit blasphemy should be executed.
In Pakistan, where blasphemy carries a death sentence, some people have been hanged before their cases have even gone to trial.
Syeda Shehrbano, an assistant superintendent of police in Lahore, intervened and entreated the enraged.
She pushed through the throng and led the woman to safety after draping her in a black robe and a gold headscarf.
Usman Anwar, the Punjab province’s police inspector general, claimed that Shehrbano had “put her life in danger” in order to save the woman.
The Pakistani military praised her for being “fearless” and gave her Pakistan’s highest honor in law enforcement during a ceremony in Rawalpindi.
