Murder of a Sri Lankan citizen in Sialkot on charges of blasphemy It seems like a threat to all of us.

Murder of a Sri Lankan citizen in Sialkot on charges of blasphemy: "It seems like a threat to all of us.
Traffic on wazirabad road Sialkot place of murder sri lankan manager


The traffic on Wazirabad Road in Sialkot was still going on as usual, but there is silence in the shops and fear in the neighborhoods. In front of them is a pile of ashes containing burnt pieces of cloth and a pair of shoes.

Here a fire was set in front of their eyes after killing a living person. Ninety-nine percent of the man's body was burned and no bones except his feet were intact.

I do not know if the shoes belonged to the slain Sri Lankan citizen Priyantha Kumar or to one of the angry mob who was beating his dead body with sticks and shoes.

This is not the first case of murder in Pakistan after being accused of blasphemy, and a large section thinks it is not the last.

When I was on this busy road on Saturday, there is still a crowd, when the media representatives come, children, young people and sometimes the elderly gather around them.

But when asked about the incident, they say 'what happened is bad', or 'we don't know anything'.

In front of the factory is a row of shops and workshops and behind them densely populated neighborhoods.

We asked the owner of one of the shops, who is in his 60s, what he saw on Friday morning, and he said what happened inside the factory.

"Everything was normal outside then, just like every day. There was no commotion. After a while noises came and some people started gathering, so much so that a crowd started coming out from inside the factory. We understand that there will be an internal problem of the factory. But seeing the sticks in the hands of the people, seeing their slogans and anger, I immediately closed the shop and ran away. I didn't know what was going on, just thought that these people were angry and shouldn't set the shop on fire. '

There are also small hotels on this street where tea is available and also small shops. Went to a group of young people sitting here that they were also here yesterday.

At first he denied that we had seen anything, but then slowly he began to explain how people gathered and all of a sudden everything stopped. He started talking about the people in the factory who used to come to his shops and hotels during work breaks.

The factory workers used to scold their officers, they did not like it.

"Many of these workers used to come here. If he talked to his colleagues, he would tell us everything. He often said that his general manager was a tough guy. He was also more concerned with discipline. If an employee came to work late, he would express his frustration. All these things were not to the liking of these employees. He did not like harshness and that is why he often scolded his officer and expressed his displeasure towards him. We heard all this but never thought it would happen that they would be killed.

The young man says he has never seen such scenes.

"It simply came to our notice then. We live here on the street. No one has been out since yesterday. Everyone is afraid of what will happen to them. This seems to be a threat to all of us. When I went out in the morning, I saw that there was a pile of ashes in front of me. When I went out at night to pick up my belongings, I was scared to walk on this road.

'Priyantha Kumar hiding under solar panels on the roof'

According to police, when word spread in the factory that Priyantha had been charged with blasphemy, some of her companions took her to the roof to protect her. They hid under the solar panels installed there.

In a video, it can be seen that his colleague Malik Adnan was trying to save him, but the angry mob chanting slogans did not hear him. Malik Adnan is also under police protection at the moment.

The sports equipment factory behind the high walls is also closed today. Outside, police are deployed, and inside, law enforcement officers patrol.

Footage from more than 100 CCTV cameras has been collected so far. There are still traces of blood in the factory where the body of Sri Lankan citizen Priyantha Kumar was dragged.

The stairs are bloody. There are traces of blood flowing from his hands and body on the walls and the roof is also full of blood stains where the violence started.