Remains of Sialkot lynching victim repatriated to Sri Lanka from Lahore

The human remains of Sri Lankan factory manager Priyantha Kumara, who was lynched by a mob in Sialkot last week, were repatriated to Sri Lanka from Lahore's Allama Iqbal International Airport on Monday.

A mob comprising hundreds of protestors, including the employees of the factory Kumara was the manager of, had tortured him to death on Friday and later burnt his body.

A first information report was registered against 900 workers of Rajco Industries on the application of Uggoki Station House Officer (SHO) Armaghan Maqt under Sections 302, 297, 201, 427, 431, 157, 149 of the Pakistan Penal Code and 7 and 11WW of the Anti-Terrorism Act.

The applicant stated that the protesters had slapped, kicked, punched and hit Kumara with sticks in his presence, and dragged him out of the factory on Wazirabad Road where he died. They then set the body on fire. The SHO said he was helpless in front of the mob owing to shortage of personnel.

The body was brought to the airport in an ambulance where Punjab Minister for Minority Affairs Ejaz Alam Augustine received it and dispatched it via a Sri Lankan Airlines flight with state honours.

Other officials present on the occasion included Special Representative to the Prime Minister on Religious Harmony Hafiz Mohammad Tahir Ashrafi, Honorary Consul General of Sri Lanka Yasin Joya and representatives of the Punjab Home Department and Sri Lankan High Commission.

Speaking to reporters at the airport, Ashrafi said the whole nation would have to unite to eradicate extremism the way it had eliminated terrorism from the country.

"Today is a day of grief but we promise that the killers of Priyantha Kumara will be brought to justice," he said.

The Punjab police on Monday announced the arrest of seven more of the prime suspects allegedly involved in the lynching of 49-year-old Kumara, taking the total number of arrests to 131.

Over the past three days, the police have arrested scores. The suspects included the individual allegedly involved in planning the attack as well as others who waged violence and incited others.

The police added that out of the 131 people arrested, 26 played a "central role" in the brutal killing.