Sri Lanka’s Parliament condemns citizen’s lynching in Pakistan

Colombo, Dec 04 (PTI):
Sri Lanka’s Parliament and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa on Saturday condemned the brutal lynching of a Sri Lankan national in Pakistan and hoped that Prime Minister Imran Khan will keep his commitment to bring all those involved to justice and ensure the safety of the rest of the island nation’s expat workers.
In a grisly incident, Priyantha Kumara Diyawadana, who was in his 40s, was lynched and his body burnt by angry supporters of a hardline Islamist party which attacked a garment factory in Pakistan’s Punjab province over blasphemy allegations. Diyawadana, from Sri Lanka’s Kandy, was working as the general manager of the garment factory in Sialkot district, some 100 kms from Lahore. The Sri Lankan government and the Opposition were united in urging the Sri Lankan authorities to have talks with Islamabad to ensure the safety of the rest of the Sri Lankan workers in Pakistan.
Taking to Twitter, Prime Minister Rajapaksa said: Shocking to see the brutal and fatal attack on Priyantha Diyawadana by extremist mobs in #Pakistan.
My heart goes out to his wife and family. #SriLanka and her people are confident that PM @ImranKhanPTI will keep to his commitment to bring all those involved to justice.
“We are glad that the Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan had very strongly condemned this brutal act,” Sri Lankan education minister Dinesh Gunawardena told Parliament.
Diywadana had graduated from the University of Peradeniya in Kandy. He came from a poor background, Parliament was told.
He was murdered by the supporters of the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), a hardline Islamist party, which was previously banned. The incident took place in the Wazirabad Road area.
Several videos doing rounds on the internet showed scores of men gathered at the site.Police said the victim has been identified as a Sri Lankan national. They added that other details would be shared with the media after the initial probe. This comes as the increasing cases of blasphemy in Pakistan continue to be a cause of concern for rights activists.
Condemning the incident, global human rights watchdog Amnesty International demanded an impartial investigation.
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has said he would personally oversee an investigation into “the horrific vigilante attack” which he also called “a day of shame for Pakistan”.