Mob lynches Sri Lankan manager in Sialkot over alleged blasphemy

Sialkot: A Sri Lankan manager of the Rajco factory has been lynched by an angry mob over alleged blasphemy. After beating him to death, his body was set on fire.

As per the initial report the incident took place on Wazirabad road, Sialkot where the workers of a private factory attacked their owner and Sri Lankan manager Priyantha Kumara.

He was working as an export manager in the factory.

Meanwhile, the Police have been directed by the authorities to control the situation. Chief Minister Usman Buzdar and Chief of Punjab Police Rao Sardar took notice of this incident.

CM, Usman Buzdar has asked police to submit an inquiry report of the incident and he termed the incident as “very tragic”.

“This incident must be investigated in detail, police must not leave any aspect of the incident,” Buzdar reportedly said, adding that “Action must be taken against those who took the law into their hands.”

Meanwhile, the Pakistan Ulema Council “strongly condemned” the Sialkot incident.

“The murder of a foreign manager on the allegations of blasphemy in Sialkot is regretful and highly condemnable,” read a statement issued by the PUC Chairman Tahir Ashrafi.

Blasphemy is a speech crime and religious crime usually defined as an utterance that shows contempt, disrespects, or insults a deity, an object considered sacred, or something considered inviolable. Some religions regard blasphemy as a religious crime, especially the Abrahamic religions, including insulting the prophet Muhammad in Islam, speaking the “sacred name” in Judaism, and the “eternal sin” in Christianity.

Blasphemy in Islam is an impious utterance or action concerning God, Muhammad, or anything considered sacred in Islam. The Quran admonishes blasphemy but does not specify any worldly punishment for blasphemy. The hadiths, which are another source of Sharia, suggest various punishments for blasphemy, which may include death.