Video of lynch mob killing two teenage brothers sparks mass demonstrations across Pakistan

The video, broadcast on Pakistani news channels, shows a lynch mob taking turns to savagely beat the two boys with sticks, drawing blood from them before dragging and hanging their dead bodies from a nearby pole.

But perhaps just as shocking is that none of the dozens of people and police watching tried to stop the vicious attack.

It is now thought the boys, who were on their way to play cricket in Sialkot, an eastern Punjab province, may have been mistaken for robbers by the group who decided to
deliver brutal justice for their supposed crime last Sunday.

The scenes have outraged Pakistanis, some who are questioning how their society could passively watch the shocking killings without intervening.

The News, an English-language daily newspaper, wrote: 'Is this what we are? Savages? So utterly bereft of a speck of humanity that a crowd of ordinary men are passive spectators to public murder?'

The government has responded to the attack after civic groups condemned the killings and youths held demonstrations.

As details have emerged authorities appear increasingly confident the two boys - Moiz Butt, 17, and his brother Muneeb, 15 - were innocent.

The two went to play cricket after praying and eating breakfast, carrying a bag with them containing game equipment, said Mujahid Sherdil, a top government official in the district.