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Pakistan: Sri Lankan plant manager killed in lynching for "sacrilege"

Several hundred people attacked the manager of a sports equipment factory in Punjab province, after his Muslim workers claimed he had vandalized posters of the Prophet Muhammad, and they burned his body in public.

More than a hundred people were arrested, and the prime minister expressed shock at the lynching and promised that they would be punished

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• Sri Lanka

IP

Sunday, 05 December 2021, 16:42

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The cremated body will be transferred to the Sri Lankan Embassy. Candles and flowers in memory of Priyanta Kumara (Photo: AP)

An angry mob in Pakistan on Friday carried out a lynching at the Sri Lankan plant manager who was accused by his workers of vandalizing posters bearing the name of the Prophet Muhammad. Hundreds of Muslims attacked and killed Priyanta Kumara, director of a sports equipment factory in Punjab province in the center of the country, and then they burned his body in public. Police arrested more than a hundred people involved in the lynching.

Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has assured the Sri Lankan president that the culprits will be "punished in full severity". In a tweet he posted during the night, Khan wrote that he had spoken to the President of Sri Lanka on the phone to convey the anger and shame felt by the country and assure him that justice would be done. Authorities said the cremated body would be transported to the capital, Islamabad, and from there officials at the Sri Lankan embassy would return it for burial in the country.

Punjab police chief Rao Sreder said investigators were examining records from about 160 security cameras to verify the suspects' involvement.And ten crews carried out raids in favor of further arrests.

Conservative Pakistani law prohibits harm to Islam and the Prophet Muhammad, and anyone convicted of offenses faces the death penalty.

In addition, any shred of accusation of sacrilege may end in the assault of an angry mob that takes the law into its own hands.

Human rights organizations are urging the Pakistani government to change the law, but Islamist elements in the country strongly oppose it.

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