Dozens held after mob kills Sri Lanka national

SIALKOT/COLOMBO: At least 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 incident took place on Friday in Sialkot, a district in central Punjab province, about 200km southeast of the capital Islamabad. Zulfiqar Ali, a police official in the area, told AFP: “Rumour spread in the factory that the manager had torn down a religious poster and thrown it in the dustbin.”

Police spokesman Khurram Shehzad said up to 120 people had been arrested, including 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.

Hasaan Khawar, a spokesman for Punjab government, told reporters on Saturday said a post-mortem examination of the body had been done and the body would be handed over to the Sri Lankan embassy in Islamabad.

President and Prime Minister of Sri Lanka on Saturday expressed shock over the killing, asking Pakistan to punish all those involved in the “brutal and fatal attack”.

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”.