THIS refers to the report ‘Ghastly murder of Lankan man in Sialkot shames nation’ (Dec 4). No one can deny that the country is turning into a lawless land where blood is cheaper than water. This is evident from the brutal lynching of Priyantha Kumara in Sialkot by a violent mob of factory workers. It was not the first such incident making headlines in the country.

According to a report by the International Association for Religious Freedom, there have been 128 cases of lynching on religious grounds in Pakistan from 1987 to 2021. About a decade ago, two brothers were brutally beaten to death by a mob also in Sialkot, which happens to be the city to which belonged Allama Muhammad Iqbal, the greatest of our philosophers who laid the ideological foundation of the country.

The relevant law is often used for personal vendetta and for settling scores. A case in point is an incident in which a security guard shot the bank manager in November last year, alleging that the victim had committed blasphemy.

Later, it came to light that he had a personal grudge against the manager and killed him in cold blood using the name of the religion.

It is time the state took serious measures to curb this violent trend by serving justice and making the culprits involved in murdering the foreigner in Sialkot an example.

Abdul Qadeer
Larkana

Published in Dawn, December 8th, 2021