Police arrested 118 men, including 13 prime suspects, for murdering & burning body of a Sri Lankan national: IGP Punjab
LAHORE/Sialkot, Dec 04 (SABAH): Inspector-General of Police Punjab Rao Sardar Ali Khan said Saturday that police have arrested 118 men, including 13 prime suspects, for murdering and burning the body of a Sri Lankan national.
At a press conference in Lahore, IG Punjab and provincial government Spokesperson Hassan Khawar briefed media on the investigations into the Sialkot incident.
The IGP said that during the last 24 hours, police have conducted raids in over 200 areas of the city and arrested nearly 120 men. The spokesperson of Punjab revealed that the police have obtained CCTV footage of the attack from 160 cameras installed at the site.
He said that the post-mortem of the victim has been conducted and Prime Minister Imran Khan and CM Usman Buzdar are overseeing the investigations themselves.
Detailing the sequence of the events that led to the incident, IG Rao said that the DPO of Sialkot reached the site 17 minutes after the first complaint.
Meanwhile President Dr. Arif Alvi has appreciated the prompt action taken by Prime Minister Imran Khan, regarding the Sialkot incident.
In a statement, the President said this incident is definitely very sad and shameful, and not religious in any way whatsoever. He said Islam is a religion that established cannons of deliberative justice rather than mob lynching.
Meanwhile the police have arrested a prime suspect and booked at least 800 people under the Anti-Terrorism Act a day after a mob tortured a Sri Lankan man, employed as a manager in a factory on Wazirabad Road, Sialkot, to death and set his body on fire. The police said Farhan Idrees, the key suspect, has been detained.
They said hundreds of people armed with sticks and batons were present inside the factory at the time of the murder of the foreign national, Priyantha Kumara.
After the murder, the mob dragged his body on the streets, the police said, adding that it failed to stop the crowd due to a lack of strength.
As per the initial investigation, the police said that the Sri Lanka citizen was killed over allegations of blasphemy. They added that they were investigating the matter from all angles.
Meanwhile, an initial report of the incident has been submitted to Prime Minister Imran Khan by the Punjab Police. As per the report, at least 112 suspects have been detained who were identified with the help of the factory managers. The provocateurs have been arrested as well.
The detained suspects have been moved to unknown locations, they said, adding that investigation was still underway.
Separately, the body of the deceased has been handed over to the police after post-mortem for legal formalities.
In a statement, cleric Mufti Taqi Usmani condemned the killing of the foreign national over blasphemy allegations. He said blasphemy was a “grave crime” but the evidence to prove the blasphemy charges must be beyond doubt. The Sialkot incident has tarnished the image of Pakistan and Muslims across the world, he added.
He expressed concerns over the violent state of affairs in Pakistan, saying instead of using force, the government should table the matter before parliament to resolve such issues. He also urged the protesters to use peaceful means instead of destroying national properties and violence.