Ghastly murder of Lankan man in Sialkot shames nation
Mob lynches victim over blasphemy charge, burns body .Two main suspects among those arrested, raids continue to nab more .PM promises culprits will be punished with ‘full severity’ of law . Colombo ‘expects’ required action will be taken to ensure justice.
NAROWAL: Furious workers of a garment factory in Sialkot on Friday tortured their Sri Lankan general manager to death over allegations of blasphemy and set the body on fire.
The brutal killing drew widespread condemnation from government officials and human rights bodies. The employees of Rajco Industries, located on Wazirabad Road, staged a protest on the premises alleging that Priyantha Kumara, had committed blasphemy. On receiving information about the protest, three personnel of the Uggoki police reached the spot, but the mob clearly outnumbered them, making them silent spectators.
According to a local journalist, the district police chief was contacted several times on his mobile phone, but he did not answer. The protesters suspended traffic on Wazirabad Road and were joined by all the factory workers and a large number of locals. On seeing the mob gradually swell from a few dozen to hundreds, Mr Kumara dashed to the roof. Shouting slogans, the charged protesters chased him, dragged him out on the road and tortured him with kicks, stones and iron rods, killing him on the spot. The mob then set the body on fire.
Sialkot Deputy Commissioner (DC) Tahir Farooq and District Police Officer (DPO) Omar Saeed Malik along with a heavy contingent of police reached the spot and took the body into custody. Rescue 1122 District Emergency Officer Naveed Iqbal said they transferred the body to Sialkot’s Allama Iqbal Teaching Hospital immediately, adding that a rescue ambulance and fire brigade were present on the spot during the protest.
Mr Kumara, a Sri Lankan Christian, had been working at Rajco Industries for 10 years. Witnesses Mohammad Iftikhar and Mohammad Ilyas said when the protest started and the road was blocked, only three personnel from the Uggoki police station arrived. Had the DPO responded to the sensitive matter on time, the killing could have been avoided. They held police’s incompetence responsible for the gruesome incident.
Mohammad Hafeez and Jabbar Khan recalled that in 2010 two brothers were lynched by angry protesters owing to police’s incompetence and failure to respond on time. Chief Minister Usman Buzdar took notice of the killing and demanded a report from the chief secretary and Punjab inspector general of police (IGP). “I am extremely shocked at the horrific Sialkot incident. I have instructed IG Police to thoroughly investigate it. No one is allowed to take law in their hands. Rest assured, individuals involved in this inhumane act will not be spared!!” he tweeted.
police managed to disperse the protesters from Wazirabad Road and reopen it for traffic. Later, Gujranwala Commissioner Zulfiqar Ghumman and Regional Police Officer Imran Ahmar also reached the spot as part of the inquiry into the incident.
Sialkot police constituted 10 raiding teams to arrest the culprits. According to police sources, a first information report of the incident was registered at the Uggoki police station for aggravated murder and burning of the body against dozens of unidentified people under terrorism and murder provisions. Police collected videos of the torture from social media. They also claimed to have arrested over 145 suspects and transferred them to an unidentified location.
Reacting to the “horrific vigilante attack”, Prime Minister Imran Khan said it was a day of shame for Pakistan. “I am overseeing the investigations & let there be no mistake all those responsible will be punished with full severity of the law. Arrests are in progress,” he tweeted.
Meanwhile, a Sri Lankan media outlet reported that the country’s Foreign Ministry expected the Pakistani authorities to take the required action to investigate and ensure justice following the lynching of Mr Kumara.
“The [Sri Lankan] Foreign Ministry has received reports of an alleged incident of torture and burning of the body of a Sri Lankan in Sialkot, Pakistan,” said spokesperson Sugeeshwara Gunaratna. “The Sri Lanka High Commission in Islamabad is in the process of verifying the details of the incident from the Pakistan authorities.”