PM chairs high-level civil-military huddle on national security after Sialkot lynching

Published December 6, 2021
Prime Minister Imran Khan presides over a meeting on Monday called to review the overall security situation in the country. — Photo courtesy Prime Minister's Office
Prime Minister Imran Khan presides over a meeting on Monday called to review the overall security situation in the country. — Photo courtesy Prime Minister's Office

Prime Minister Imran chaired a high-level meeting of the country's civil and military leadership on Monday to review the overall security situation in Pakistan after the brutal mob lynching of a Sri Lankan national in Sialkot last week.

The meeting was attended by Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Jawed Bajwa, National Security Adviser Dr Moeed Yousuf, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry, Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar and other senior military and civil officers.

According to a statement issued by the Prime Minister's Office, the participants resolved to bring the perpetrators involved in the Sialkot lynching to justice.

A mob comprising hundreds of protestors, including the employees of a factory where Priyantha Kumara worked as a manager, had tortured him to death on Friday and later burnt his body over blasphemy allegations.

Subsequently, a first information report was registered against 900 workers of Rajco Industries, and scores of suspects have been arrested since then.

According to the the PMO, the participants of today's security meeting were of the view that individuals and mobs could not be allowed to take the law into their hands and such incidents could not be tolerated.

The country's civil and military leadership expressed serious concern over Kumara's lynching, stressing the need for implementing a comprehensive strategy to curb such incidents and ensuring "strict punishment" for all the perpetrators, the PMO said.

It added that the participants also acknowledged the act of bravery by one of Kumara's colleagues, Malik Adnan, who was seen confronting a group of angry men in an attempt to save the former in a video of the incident.

"Malik Adnan [...] endangered his own life to save Priyantha Kumara," the PMO's statement said, adding that the participants of the meeting also conveyed their deepest condolences to the family of late Kumara.

Widespread condemnation

The condemnation of Kumara's killing in today's meeting was the latest expression of disapproval of the incident by the country's leadership. The incident has drawn a strong reaction and widespread condemnation from across the country.

Read: No one is responsible for lynching the Sri Lankan national in Sialkot. Absolutely no one

Hours after the incident was reported on Friday, Prime Minister Imran Khan had condemned the "horrific vigilante attack" on the Sri Lankan man, calling it "a day of shame for Pakistan".

"Let there be no mistake all those responsible will be punished with full severity of the law," he had tweeted.

Similar sentiments were expressed by President Arif Alvi, other politicians, diplomats and activists.

Amid countrywide outrage over the incident, Human Rights Minister Dr Shireen Mazari also said today that the government had decided to review the National Action Plan (NAP) on counter-terrorism in the wake of the brutal lynching of Kumara.

Speaking exclusively to Dawn.com, the minister rued the recurrence of such incidents and called for "strict government action", terming it the "need of the hour".

Editorial

Shocking ambush
Updated 13 Mar, 2025

Shocking ambush

The sophistication of attack indicates that separatists likely had support from experienced external players.
Suffocating crisis
13 Mar, 2025

Suffocating crisis

THREE of the five countries with the most polluted air on Earth are in South Asia. They include Pakistan, which has...
Captive grid
13 Mar, 2025

Captive grid

IT is a common practice: the government makes commitments with global lenders for their money and then tries to...
State Bank’s caution
Updated 12 Mar, 2025

State Bank’s caution

Easing monetary policy will be difficult for SBP without large, sustainable foreign capital inflows and structural tax reforms.
Syria massacre
12 Mar, 2025

Syria massacre

THERE were valid fears of sectarian and religious bloodshed when anti-Assad militants triumphantly marched into...
Too little, too late
12 Mar, 2025

Too little, too late

WHEN desperation reaches a point that a father has to end his life to save his daughter’s, the state has failed ...