Sri Lankan Manager burnt to death by violent TLP mob in Sialkot

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A Sri Lankan man was tortured and burnt to death in Sialkot in Pakistan on Friday for allegedly desecrating poster of that contained salutations ("Durood") on the Prophet . The South Asia Media Research Institute said in a post sharing the video of the incident that, “Islamist mob lynched a Sri Lankan manager of Rajco factory to death for allegedly desecrating a poster that contained salutations ("Durood") on the Prophet. He was first beaten to death with sticks and stones, and then his corpse was set on fire”.</p>
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<strong>Viewer discretion advised as video contains graphic content: </strong></p>
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Sialkot, Punjab. Islamist mob lynched a Sri Lankan manager of Rajco factory to death for allegedly desecrating a poster that contained salutations ("Durood") on the Prophet. He was first beaten to death with sticks and stones, and then his corpse was set on fire. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Blasphemy?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Blasphemy</a> <a href="https://t.co/AjrbmcpvLC">pic.twitter.com/AjrbmcpvLC</a></p>
— SAMRI (@SAMRIReports) <a href="https://twitter.com/SAMRIReports/status/1466687362004623362?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 3, 2021</a></blockquote>
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According to the website, the deceased Priyantha Diyawadana, from Colombo, Sri Lanka was working as a General Manager at Rajco Industry in Sialkot, Punjab which makes cricket gears for the Pakistani cricket team. Kumar had been living and working in Pakistan since 2010. He had earlier worked in textile factories in Lahore and Faisalabad.</p>
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According to many Pakistanis, a person who has been living in Pakistan for the last ten years, how could he have torn the poster of the Prophet of Islam?</p>
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According to the reports, a mob of the radical militant organisation Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) falsely accused the victim of blasphemy and dragged him out of the factory. In the videos shared on Twitter, the mob can be seen chanting “Nara-e-Taqbeer” and “Labbaik Ya Rasool Allah” while beating the Sri Lankan man with iron rods and sticks.</p>
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<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3eGkfzcheFc" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe>One of the slogans that was raised was “anyone who insults the prophet his head must be cut off” (Gustakh–e–Rasool ki ek hee saza Sar tan se juda Sar tan se juda).</p>
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Sharing the video, one Pakistani journalist Hamza Azhar Salam wrote on his post:  “A Sri Lankan factory manager in Sialkot has been brutally murdered by a mob chanting slogan of Tehreek e Labbaik Pakistan. According to reports the mob made a false accusation blasphemy to justify the murder.”</p>
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A Sri Lankan factory manager in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Sialkot?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Sialkot</a> has been brutally murdered by a mob chanting slogans of Tehreek e Labbaik Pakistan. According to reports the mob made a false accusation blasphemy to justify the murder. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TLP?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TLP</a> was recently unbanned by the govt. <a href="https://t.co/PZd1Eir8vS">pic.twitter.com/PZd1Eir8vS</a></p>
— Hamza Azhar Salam (@HamzaAzhrSalam) <a href="https://twitter.com/HamzaAzhrSalam/status/1466688487080579078?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 3, 2021</a></blockquote>
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Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar took notice of the murder, terming it as a "very tragic incident…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,"reports Pakistani daily Dawn.</p>
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Blasphemy laws have been disproportionately used in the past against religious minorities in Pakistan. Although no blasphemy executions have been carried out in the country since the death penalty was introduced for the crime in 1986, suspects are often attacked and sometimes killed by mobs of radical militant organisations like TLP.</p>
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Tehreek-e-Labaik (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.</p>
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The TLP was born in 2015 out of a protest campaign to seek the release of Mumtaz Qadri, a police guard who assassinated Punjab governor Salman Taseer in 2011 over his calls to reform blasphemy legislation. Qadri was later executed. The group founded a political party at Qadri's funeral in 2016 attended by tens of thousands of people.</p>
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Following violent clashes in April this year, the Imran Khan government  designated the TLP a terrorist movement and arrested its leader, Saad Rizvi. But after six months, the Imran Khan  government surrendered to the hardliner extremist party and removed the ban on the  TLP, and released its leader.</p>
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Sri Lankan netizens are horrified with the gruesome murder of  Priyantha Diyawadana in Pakistan.</p>
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<a href="https://twitter.com/PresRajapaksa?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@PresRajapaksa</a> must immediately call <a href="https://twitter.com/PakinSriLanka?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@PakinSriLanka</a> and say that either bring the perpetrators of this horrific incident to the book or close down the embassy. This cruelty has surpasses all levels of justified tolerance.<a href="https://twitter.com/hrw?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@hrw</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/UN_HRC?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@UN_HRC</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/husainhaqqani?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@husainhaqqani</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Sialkot?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Sialkot</a><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/blasphemy?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#blasphemy</a><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RIP?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#RIP</a></p>
— Prasad Wijeratne (@PrasadWijeratne) <a href="https://twitter.com/PrasadWijeratne/status/1466725442115674115?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 3, 2021</a></blockquote>
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<strong>Also Read: <a href="https://www.indianarrative.com/world-news/pakistan-s-imran-khan-signs-secret-pact-with-tlp-to-defuse-protests-125351.html">Pakistan’s Imran Khan signs secret pact with TLP to defuse protests</a></strong></p>