#OUTLAWBLASPHEMYLAWS

Dozens arrested in Pakistan after mob kill Sri Lankan factory manager


The vigilante attack in Sialkot has caused outrage (AFP/Arif ALI)

Sat, December 4, 2021

Up to 120 people have been arrested in Pakistan after a Sri Lankan factory manager was beaten to death and set ablaze by a mob who accused him of blasphemy, officials said on Saturday.

The vigilante attack has caused outrage, with Prime Minister Imran Khan calling it a "day of shame for Pakistan".

Few issues are as galvanising in Pakistan as blasphemy, and even the slightest suggestion of an insult to Islam can supercharge protests and incite lynchings.

The incident took place on Friday in Sialkot, a district in central Punjab province, about 200 kilometres (125 miles) southeast of the capital Islamabad.

Police on Saturday said that the manager was killed after it was rumoured that "the manager has committed blasphemy".

"Rumour spread in the factory that the manager had torn down a religious poster and thrown it in the dustbin," Zulfiqar Ali, a police official in the area told AFP.

Khurram Shehzad, a police spokesman said up to 120 people had been arrested, included one of the main accused.

Tahir Ashrafi, a religious scholar and special representative of the prime minister on religious harmony, confirmed the arrest and told AFP that workers had complained of the manager being "very strict".

"Police experts are investigating this case from various angles, including that some factory workers played a religious card to take revenge on the manager," Ashrafi said.

Shehzad said raids are continuing.

- Crowd watched -

Several gruesome video clips shared on social media showed a mob beating the prone victim while chanting slogans against blasphemy.

Other clips showed his body set ablaze, as well as the overturned wreckage of what was said to be his car.

Many in the mob made no attempt to hide their identity and some took selfies in front of the burning corpse.

Malik Naseem Awan, a resident and lawyer in Sialkot, told AFP he was worried about the impact it would have on the country's image.

"I can't tell you how embarrassed I am. It would have been different if someone had done this individually but the crowd present there was watching it silently, and no one tried to rescue him," he said.

Almost all the political and religious parties condemned the incident including Pakistan's Army Chief.

A senior Pakistan official told AFP that Islamabad had been in touch with Sri Lankan diplomats over the incident "and have assured them that all those involved in the heinous crime will be brought to justice".

Rights groups say accusations of blasphemy can often be wielded to settle personal vendettas, with minorities largely the target.

On Sunday thousands of people torched a police station in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province after demanding officers hand over a man accused of burning the Koran.

In April 2017 an angry mob lynched university student Mashal Khan when he was accused of posting blasphemous content online.

A Christian couple was lynched then burnt in a kiln in Punjab in 2014 after being falsely accused of desecrating the Koran.

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Detentions come a day after a mob of hundreds stormed a factory in Punjab province and lynched the Sri Lankan manager to death over an accusation of blasphemy.

Police have arrested 13 suspects and detained dozens of others in the lynching of a Sri Lankan employee at a sports equipment factory in eastern Pakistan.

Punjab police chief Rao Sardar said on Saturday that investigators arrested prominent suspects after seeing their clear role on video in instigating workers to violence, killing the manager and dragging his body outside, and taking selfies with his burning body and proudly admitting what they did.

Sardar, in his initial report to authorities, said the victim had asked the workers to remove all stickers from factory machines before a foreign delegation arrived.

It said the incident started at around 11 a.m. and three constables reached the factory to control the situation shortly after.

Hassan Khawar, spokesman for the Punjab government, said the provincial police chief was personally overseeing the investigation.

Khurram Shahzad, a police official in Sialkot district, said 123 suspects were detained in ongoing raids.

The lynching was widely condemned by Pakistan's military and political leadership, prominent social and religious figures and civil society members.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Sugeeswara Gunaratne said Friday that Sri Lanka's embassy in Islamabad was verifying details of the incident with Pakistani authorities.

Allegation of blasphemy

A mob of hundreds of enraged Muslims descended on the factory in the district of Sialkot in Punjab province on Friday after the Sri Lankan manager of the factory was accused of blasphemy.

READ MORE: Mob kills Sri Lankan over alleged blasphemy in Pakistan

The mob grabbed Priyantha Kumara, lynched him and publicly burned the body, according to police.

Factory workers accused the victim of desecrating posters bearing the name of Prophet Muhammad.

In the conservative society of Pakistan mere allegations of blasphemy invite mob attacks.

The country's blasphemy law carries the death penalty for anyone found guilty of the offence.

Pakistan’s government has long been under pressure to change the country’s blasphemy laws, which far-right religious groups strongly resist.

A Punjab governor was shot and killed by his own guard in 2011 after he defended a Christian woman, Aasia Bibi, who was accused of blasphemy.

She was acquitted after spending eight years on death row and, following threats, left Pakistan for Canada to join her family.