Sialkot lynching: Govt plans to implement ‘comprehensive strategy’ to curb untoward incidents
Posted on December 6th, 2021
Courtesy The News
Govt expresses serious concern over cruel act of killing a Sri Lankan national in Sialkot, aims to bring perpetrators to justice
ISLAMABAD: The government on Monday decided to implement a comprehensive policy to control violence after a mob lynched a Sri Lankan national in Sialkot.
Last week, hundreds of people, including workers from the factory, had tortured the foreigner, Diyawadanage Don Nandasri Priyantha, to death and later burnt his body over blasphemy allegations.
According to a statement issued by the PM Office, the decision to implement the strategy came during a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan in Islamabad, where the overall security situation in the country came under review.
“The meeting expressed serious concern over the cruel act of killing of Sri Lankan national Priyantha in Sialkot and expressed the resolve to bring the perpetrators to justice,” the statement read.
The participants of the meeting were of the view that individuals and mobs cannot be allowed to take the law into their hands and such incidents cannot be tolerated.
“Therefore, a comprehensive strategy shall be implemented to curb such incidents and strict punishments to all the perpetrators shall be ensured,” the statement said.
During the meeting, the participants praised the bravery and courage of Malik Adnan who endangered his own life to save Diyawadanage and conveyed deepest condolences to the family of the deceased.
The meeting was attended by Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry, Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed, Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Jawed Bajwa, National Security Advisor Dr Moeed Yousaf, Chief Minister Punjab Sardar Usman Buzdar, senior military and civil officers.
Remains sent off to Colombo
Earlier today, the remains of the factory manager were sent off to Colombo. Sri Lankan embassy officials arrived at the hospital to escort Priyantha’s body to the airport and laid flowers over it.
Priyantha’s last rites will be performed upon the arrival of his body in Sri Lanka.
Twenty-six suspects arrested in connection with the lynching of the Sri Lankan factory manager have been remanded into police custody.
The police presented the suspects before an anti-terrorism court earlier in the day and requested their remand for interrogation.
During the hearing, the names of the suspects were called out to mark their presence. All the suspects responded to their names except for one, named Shoaib alias Gonga (speech impaired).
The investigation officer informed the court that Shoaib is speech impaired.
The police requested the court to grant 15-day remand of the suspects for interrogation which the court accepted and ordered the investigation officer to present them on December 12.
So far, a total of 131 suspects have been arrested in connection with the Sialkot lynching case.
The incident
Priyantha, working as a manager at a private factory in Sialkot, was lynched on Friday by a mob after being accused of blasphemy.
The gruesome incident was dubbed by PM Imran Khan as “a day of shame for Pakistan”.
Workers of a garment industry, located on Sialkot’s Wazirabad Road, had alleged that the foreigner had committed blasphemy. He was subsequently lynched and his body set on fire.
The mob had also vandalised the factory and blocked traffic, according to the police.
The brutal murder drew widespread condemnation from senior government functionaries, including the prime minister and president, as well as the military’s top leadership, who promised to bring all those involved to the book.
December 8th, 2021 at 2:57 pm
This is simple truth that this meeting is a non-starter.
Finding a few individuals who took part in this atrocity cannot be the ‘be all and end all’ of what happened. It is quite apparent there were a few Agent Provocateurs involved in this barbaric atrocity. They provoked a ‘mind dead’ mob to extreme violence. What needs to be found out is what drives them to such insane frenzy to break every bone in the victim while alive and set the body on fire. Did it ever occured to these animals that they were killing a human being, a family man, a father, a husband and in the end somebody who came to Pakistan not only to earn a living but to impart knowledge, experience and make money for Pakistan.
We know, Sri Lanka has donated over 30,000 eyes to restore failing eyesights of Pakitanis. This is gift of vision – the ultimate joy of living – the ability to see!
Surely, something is very wrong in the mileu from which these monsters are delivered to this world. What sort of family background did they have? What sort of education did they have? What is their religious upbringing? What did they learn at their schools and most importantly – the religous schools called Madrasaars.
We are told – Islam means PEACE. Then what happened to the supposed to be once peaceful Muslims? At which point did they take a wrong and fateful move towards extreme intolerance, fanaticism, extemism and finally terrorism? Apparently this new Islamic Movement style themselves as Jihadist without borders. This is not only a threat to the country where they live, but also to the rest of the world.
Therefore, should Pakistan the Land of (supposed to be Pure’ be the very womb from which death and destruction should be unleashed upon the world?
These are the things that these ‘worthies’ should be discssing and finding solutions to!