Sri Lankan citizen lynched over blasphemy allegations in Pakistan: police

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The incident is under investigation. (Representative)

Lahore:

Angry supporters of a hardline Islamist party attacked a factory in Pakistan’s Punjab province on Friday, lynching a Sri Lankan national and burning his body over allegations of blasphemy, police said.

Priyantha Kumara, who was in her 40s, worked as the general manager of a factory in Sialkot district, about 100 km away, a Punjab police official told PTI.

“Mr. Kumara allegedly tore up a Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) hardline poster in which Quranic verses were inscribed and threw it in the trash. The poster of the Islamist party was stuck on the wall next to Kumara’s office. some factory workers saw him remove the poster and spread the word around the factory, ”the official said.

Hundreds of men, enraged at the “blasphemy” incident, began to gather outside the factory from neighboring areas. Most of them were activists and supporters of the TLP.

“The crowd dragged the suspect (a Sri Lankan national) out of the factory and severely tortured him. After succumbing to his injuries, the crowd burned his body before the police arrived,” said the manager.

Several videos circulated on social networks showing hundreds of men gathered at the site surrounding the body of the Sri Lankan national. They chanted TLP slogans.

Imran Khan’s government recently lifted the TLP ban after signing a secret deal with it, following which its leader Saad Rizvi and more than 1,500 activists accused of terrorism were released from prison.

The TLP in return had ended its weeklong sit-in in the Punjab after withdrawing its deportation request from the French ambassador on the issue of blasphemous cartoons in France.

Sialkot District Police Officer Umar Saeed Malik told reporters that a large contingent of police officers had been deployed to the area to monitor the situation after the Sri Lankan national was lynched.

Punjab’s Chief Minister Usman Buzdar called it a very tragic incident and ordered the Inspector General of Police to investigate the case and report it within 24 hours.

“Every aspect of the incident should be investigated and a report should be submitted. Action should be taken against those who bring justice themselves,” the chief minister said in a statement.

The situation in the region is tense as all factories are closed. No arrests have been made so far, police added.

Pakistan has extremely strict laws against defamation of Islam, including the death penalty, and human rights activists say they are often used to settle personal disputes in the predominantly Muslim country.

A report by a US government advisory group says Pakistan has used blasphemy laws more than any other country in the world.

Simple allegations of blasphemy have sparked violence against minorities like Christians.

Several people accused of blasphemy have been lynched in recent years.

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