ISLAMABAD: The civil and military leadership has decided to implement a comprehensive strategy to curb violence days after a Sri Lankan national was brutally lynched by an angry crowd hundreds over blasphemy allegations in Sialkot.
The decision was taken during a high-level meeting of the country’s civil and military leadership, chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan, to review the overall security situation in the country, according to a statement issued by the PM’s Office on Monday
The meeting was attended by Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Jawed Bajwa, National Security Adviser Dr Moeed Yousuf, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry, Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar and other senior military and civil officers.
Prime Minister @ImranKhanPTI chaired a meeting to review overall security situation in the Country today. pic.twitter.com/w6NRyzs3l4
— Prime Minister’s Office, Pakistan (@PakPMO) December 6, 2021
According to the statement, the meeting expressed serious concern over the cruel act of killing of Sri Lankan national Priyantha Diyawadanage in Sialkot last week and expressed the resolve to bring the perpetrators to justice.
The participants of the meeting were of the view that individuals and mobs cannot be allowed to take the law into their hands and such incidents cannot be tolerated. “Therefore, a comprehensive strategy shall be implemented to curb such incidents and strict punishments to all the perpetrators shall be ensured,” read the communiqué.
The participants also praised the bravery and courage of Malik Adnan who endangered his own life to protect the foreign national from the violent mob. They also conveyed deepest condolences to the family of late Priyantha Diyawadanage.
Earlier in the day, the remains of the Sri Lankan national were repatriated to Colombo from Lahore airport with state honours. Prime Minister’s Special Envoy for Interfaith Harmony Hafiz Tahir Mahmood Ashrafi and Punjab Minister for Human Rights Ejaz Alam Augustine along with the officials of the Sri Lankan consulate were present at the airport.
Punjab Chief Minister Usman Bazdar was supposed to dispatch the body of the Sri Lanka national, but he could not reach the airport due to a “busy schedule in Islamabad”.
