ISLAMABAD: Special Representative for Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony Hafiz Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi on Friday strongly condemned the Sialkot lynching on “behalf of all religious clerics” and said that it had “defaced Islam”.
Speaking to the media hours after the incident alongside Special Assistant to the Punjab Chief Minister Hassan Khawar and Punjab IG Rao Sardar Ali Khan, Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi said that the country had laws when it comes to Namoos-i-Risalat (the sanctity of the Prophet).
He said that those responsible for the incident had not served the country or Islam and had gone against the religion. “The elements involved in the incident have tried to damage Islamic laws and teachings,” he said, adding that the culprits will be punished for the “barbarism”.
Offering his condolences to the victim’s family, Ashrafi said that the country’s religious scholars will hold a joint press conference at a later date. “We will also go to the Sri Lankan embassy for condolences,” he added.
Meanwhile, Punjab government spokesperson Hassan Khawar announced that so far 50 people have been arrested and officials were working on identifying more culprits using CCTV footage. “An FIR of the incident will be registered under Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act,” he added.
The spokesperson further said Prime Minister Imran Khan and Chief Minister Usman Buzdar have issued directives to detain all accused involved in the heinous crime. He said the Punjab police chief had directed the officials to submit the report within 48 hours.
Khawar said as per a preliminary police investigation report the incident occurred at 11.30 in the morning, when the enraged factory workers tortured the foreign national, who was a manager in the factory, to death and later burnt his body on Wazirabad Road in Sialkot.
Taking over the presser, the Punjab IG said that police first received information of the incident at 11:26am and officials reached the scene at 11:46am. “We are probing the facts and also looking at the police response, whether there was any sort of delay,” he said, adding that the incident was “sensitive and unfortunate”.
Meanwhile, the Sri Lankan foreign ministry said that it expected Pakistani authorities to “take the required action to investigate and ensure justice”.
A report carried by Sri Lankan media organisation News 1st quoted foreign ministry spokesperson Sugeeshwara Gunaratna as saying that the Sri Lankan High Commission in Islamabad was in the process of verifying details of the incident from Pakistani authorities.
The Sri Lankan national was tortured to death in the Punjab Town earlier today. An angry mob of hundreds also set the body of foreign national on fire after lynching him over blasphemy allegations.
