Pakistani hardline Islamist party supporters lynch Sri Lankan factory manager and burnt his corpse over blasphemy allegations.
According to police, Angry mob attacked a factory in Pakistan’s Punjab province on Friday, lynching a top Sri Lankan executive of a garment factory and burning his body over blasphemy allegations.
Forty-year-old Priyantha Kumara was said to be working as the general manager of the garment factory in Sialkot district.
“Mr Kumara allegedly tore a poster of the hardline Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) in which Quranic verses were inscribed and threw it in the dustbin. The poster of the Islamist party was pasted on the wall adjoining the office of Kumara. A couple of factory workers saw him removing the poster and spread the word in the factory,” Police said.
The Sri Lankan foreign ministry said that it expected Pakistani authorities to “take the required action to investigate and ensure justice”.
Amnesty International said it was “deeply alarmed by the disturbing lynching and killing of a Sri Lankan factory manager in Sialkot, allegedly due to a blasphemy accusation”.
Blasphemy charges are often enough to prompt mass violence in Pakistan. Observers claim such accusations are often weaponized to settle personal scores in the conservative Muslim nation, especially against minorities, DW report said.