While Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has been assuring the world that perpetrators will be punished, his defence minister Pervaiz Khattak is justifying the murder of Sri Lankan Manager, Priyantha Kumara who was brutally murdered by a violent mob in Sialkot on Friday. Justifying the lynching by a frenzied mob, the top minister of Imran Khan Khattak said that it was the work of "angry, charged youngsters who were swept away by religious emotions."
“Even I can get excited and do wrong when it comes to religion,” Khattak told the media that it was wrong to blame the government.
“Instead of blaming the government, it is the responsibility of the media to explain these to the people,” he said.
Watch Video : Pakistani Defence Minister justifies the lynching of the Sri Lankan Man in Sialkot
Q: “Nine cops were killed. The #Srilankan was killed. Even then you say it is (mere) passion”?
Defense Min Pak Pervaiz Khattak: “It happens. Weren’t you passionate when you were in school or college? …. the kids do these, quarrels happen, killings (lynchings) happen”. #Sialkot pic.twitter.com/EQDoCX4qiQ— Arshad Rehan (@spaelanay) December 5, 2021
Khattak said boys do such things in the passion, which doesn’t mean things are bad.
The Pakistani Defence Minister’s statement came just after the Prime Minister Imran Khan had conveyed to the Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Sunday that the brutal act was “our nation's anger and shame". He had assured Rajapaksa “that justice will be served”.
“Spoke to Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa today in UAE to convey our nation's anger and shame to people of Sri Lanka at the vigilante killing of Priyantha Diyawadana in Sialkot,” Khan had tweeted.
Even Prime Minister Khan’s usage of words that the murder was an “extrajudicial” act by a “vigilante” group has not gone down well among a section of the Pakistani intelligentsia.
Interestingly, the Sri Lankans may have faith in the Pakistani government, but the Pakistani experts think otherwise.
“If Pervez Khattak is not immediately removed from the cabinet, it will mean that all the lies that the PM Khan kept telling on the Sialkot tragedy, which was told to the President and Foreign Minister of Sri Lanka,” said Hamid Ur Rehman, a Pakistani journalist.
The gut-wrenching incident took place in Sialkot on Friday, where the supporters of hard-line Islamist party Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) attacked a garment factory and lynched general manager of Rajco Industries Diyawadana and set his body on fire. Several among the violent mob also clicked selfies with them and videos shared on social media also showed some of the accused speaking to news channels even describing how they went about the killing. In these video clips the policemen were also seen who did not try to save the victim. According to the autopsy report, Priyantha Kumara Diyawadana’s all bones were broken and 99% of his body was burnt. All the bones, including the victim's arms and hip, were broken with the exception of one foot according to Samaa News.
Pakistan is the largest recipient of eye donations from Sri Lanka, having received at least 35,000 corneas since 1967, Dr Niaz Brohi, a leading ophthalmologist of Pakistan told Samaa News, “Sri Lankan donated us 35,000 eyes, but we lost sight.”
