![](https://nation.com.pk/print_images/large/2021-12-06/six-more-arrested-in-sri-lankan-s-lynching-probe-1638752992-6282.jpg)
PM’s aide says religious leaders want Chief Justice to treat Sialkot lynching ‘as
a test case’
Police have detained 124 men including 19 key suspects so far: Spokesperson
LAHORE – Police investigators on Sunday claimed to have arrested six more ‘key suspects’ involved in the horrific killing of Sri Lankan national Priyantha Diyawadana as crackdown to identity and arrest the suspects is underway.
Special police teams are working on the case and trying to trace the culprits by using CCTV footage of the incident and data of mobile phone calls.
Priyantha Diyawadana was tortured and burnt to death by vigilante mob in Sialkot district over the allegations of blasphemy. The police registered the against 900 workers of Rajco Industries on the application of Uggoki Station House Officer (SHO) Armaghan Maqt under sections 302, 297, 201, 427, 431, 157, 149 of the Pakistan Penal Code and 7 and 11WW of the Anti-Terrorism Act.
“A crackdown to arrest those involved in the brutal murder of Lankan citizen is underway on the directions of Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar,” police sources said on Sunday. The CM ordered to further accelerate the legal proceedings against the accused and said that the investigation should be taken forward in a scientific manner.
According to the Punjab Police spokesman, during the last 12 hours, police identified six main characters and arrested them with the help of CCTV footage and mobile calls data. The suspects could be seen torturing the deceased manager in the video. The footage also revealed that some of the accused had sticks in their hands and some were torturing the victim.
Police had nabbed these accused from the houses of their friends and relatives. The spokesman said, “Police have detained 124 people out of whom 19 accused had a major role in this brutal murder.”
Among the arrested accused, the process of identifying those who provoked violence and involved in torture was also being carried out. Usman Buzdar and the IG Punjab are personally monitoring the entire investigation process. The CM had given the task to the secretary prosecution to pursue the case.
A mob comprising hundreds of protestors, including the employees of the factory Kumara was the manager of, had tortured him to death on Friday and later burnt his body.
According to a police report, protesters had slapped, kicked, punched and hit Kumara with sticks in his presence, and dragged him out of the factory on Wazirabad Road where he died. They then set the body on fire. The SHO said he was helpless in front of the mob owing to shortage of personnel.
A ‘test case’ for Chief Justice of Pakistan
Meanwhile, Special Representative to Prime Minister on Religious Affairs Hafiz Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi said that followers of all religions and religious parties in the country strongly condemn the Sialkot lynching of a Sri Lankan factory manager and want the chief justice of Pakistan (CJP) to treat it as a test case and order a speedy trial for it.
Addressing a press conference at Quran and Seerat Academy, along with the religious leaders from different schools of thought on Sunday, he said that perpetrators of the Sialkot incident should be awarded exemplary punishment to avoid recurrence of such incidents in future.
He said that all leaders of religious organisations expressed grief and concern for linking the sad incident with religion. Those involved in the incident had not only brought bad name to the religion but the country as well, he added.
The special representative said that as per the information, so far 19 key suspects had been arrested. He said the case would be tried in an anti-terrorism court.
Tahir Ashrafi said that law of Tauheen-i-Namoos-e-Risalat and Tauheen-i-Mazhab were there in the country; therefore, no one was allowed to take the law into his hands. The courts and legal procedure were there to decide the complaints in that regard, he added.
He said that a delegation of ulema, headed by Federal Minister for Religious Affairs Pir Noor-ul-Haq Qadri, would visit Sri Lankan embassy to express their grief over the tragic incident. He said that Muslim, Hindu, Christian and Sikh communities of Pakistan wanted to tell it to the Sri Lankan people “we are ashamed of the incident and we apologise to them on this incident”. He said that all-out efforts would be made to eliminate the culture of extremism from society. He said the incident was an action of an individual and it did not represent the whole nation.