Pakistani zealots burn Sri Lankan to death
Prime Minister condemns Muslim mob for bringing shame on his country with first lynching of a foreigner
A MOB of factory employees in Pakistan yesterday tortured and burned alive a Sri Lankan man they accused of blasphemy in what is believed to be the first such killing of a foreigner in the country. Priyantha Kumara, a manager at a sportswear factory making cricket shirts in the industrial city of Sialkot, was dragged into the street and set on fire after a mob accused him of ripping up posters bearing Islamic holy verses.
Hundreds of people chanted and took selfies next to his burning body after an attack Imran Khan, the prime minister, called “a day of shame” for his country.
Clips posted on social media showed the mob chanting slogans popularised by Tehreek-e-labbaik (TLP), a religious political party formed in 2017 with the goal of putting more blasphemers to death in Pakistan. Police said when they arrived Mr Kumar was dead.
Officers tried to stop the crowd burning his body but were prevented from doing so by the mob. However, they said more than 50 people had been arrested since the attack at the Rajco Industries factory.
Mr Khan said: “The horrific vigilante attack on a factory in Sialkot and the burning alive of the Sri Lankan manager is a day of shame for Pakistan.”
Underlining the shock felt across the political establishment, Pakistan’s powerful but usually silent military also issued a statement condemning the “cold blooded murder”.
“Such extra judicial vigilantism cannot be condoned,” the military’s press wing said.
Blasphemy is punishable by death under Pakistani law but nobody found guilty has been executed through the court system in the country’s 74-yearhistory. Mr Kumara had spent eight years as general manager at the factory, which makes sportswear, including Pakistan national team cricket tops, according to its website.
The attack came only days after a mob in the town of Charsadda set a police station on fire when officers refused to hand over a man accused of defacing a Koran.
The Pakistani government was recently accused of caving in to antiblasphemy extremists after a confrontation with the TLP in which at least seven policemen were killed and dozens hurt.
The party has built up a formidable following among religious hardliners by campaigning against blasphemy.
Thousands of party workers marched from Lahore to Islamabad in October, demanding trade sanctions against France and the expulsion of the French ambassador over the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad in a satirical magazine.
Mr Khan’s government freed the TLP leader and allowed the party to contest elections, a concession critics warned at the time would embolden extremists.
Michael Kugelman, deputy director of the Asia program at the Wilson Centre think tank in Washington, said: “When the Pakistani state repeatedly gives in to hardliners, it effectively normalises their ideologies of hate.”