In a gruesome incident that showed the vice-like grip of Islamists on Pakistan's body politic, a  mob in Sialkot, in Pakistan's Punjab province, Friday attacked a Sri Lankan factory manager and burnt his body after surrounding and killing him. According to a report by The Dawn, the incident happened on Wazirabad Road in Sialkot, where the workers of private factories reportedly attacked the export manager of one of the sports factories. Sialkot District Police Officer Umar Saeed Malik said the man was identified as Priyantha Kumara, a Sri Lankan.

According to a local journalist  Mubashir Zaidi, a mob lynched the Sri Lankan manager of a sports factory in Sialkot accusing him of blasphemy after he allegedly ripped off TLP stickers from the factory wall. "Hundreds of people gathered, beat him to death and then burnt his body", he said on Twitter. 

Tehrik-e-Labaik, which translates to "Movement of the Prophet's Followers", is an extremist Sunni Islamist group whose main focus is protecting Pakistan's draconian blasphemy laws and punishing blasphemers.  

Terming it as a "very tragic incident", Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar ordered a high-level inquiry and asked for a detailed report from the Inspector General of Police.

Buzdar said: "Every aspect of the incident should be investigated and a report should be submitted. Action should be taken against those who take the law into their own hands."

A similar lynching had happened in Sialkot in 2010, when an angry mob lynched two brothers -- declaring them as bandits -- in the presence of police.

 Amnesty International said it is deeply alarmed by the disturbing lynching and killing of a Sri Lankan factory manager in Sialkot, allegedly due to a blasphemy accusation. 

The incident is bound to cast a deep shadow on Sri Lanka-Pakistan ties, especially after the visit of Prime Minister Imran Khan to Sri Lanka earlier this year where he significantly talked of intensifying "regional cooperation", with both countries being heavily dependent on China.
(SAM)