LAHORE: The Punjab Assembly learned on Thursday that 182 people had been taken into custody in the Sialkot tragedy and of them, 62 were released for lack of evidence.

Initiating a general debate on the Sialkot tragedy, Law Minister Raja Basharat told the house that 120 people were under investigation, 52 had been arrested and 18 of them had been remanded in police custody, while none had been bailed out.

He said the challan of the case would be presented in the court within 30 days. He lauded the police role as exemplary for arresting the accused.

He said the senseless killing of the Sri Lankan citizen was a tragic incident that was condemned by every Pakistani, including the prime minister and the Punjab chief minister.

He said 182 people were identified with the help of CCTV cameras and detained immediately after the incident, while 62 of them were released for not being involved in the case. Fifty-two people were arrested, out of 120 brought under investigation and none of them had been bailed out.

He said a special prosecution team of three officers was assisting the police and monitoring the case.

He said the Council of Islamic Ideology and Shaan-i-Rehmatul-lil-Alameen Authority were working to prevent such incidents in future. He suggested a unanimous and effective legislation to prevent such incidents in future.

The minister recalled that over 50 Muslims had been martyred in a mosque in New Zealand which showed that such heinous incidents happened in every society, though no religion permitted violence.

Taking part in the debate, the opposition demanded action against those who form armed wings.

PML-N’s Samiullah Khan lamented that the government first banned the Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan alleging it was being funded by India and then the state backed out of its stance.

He recalled that an army general had surrendered before his Indian counterpart back in 1971 and the PTI before the TLP in 2021.

He regretted that neither the chief minister nor the law minister went to condole with the heirs of the policemen martyred in clashes with the TLP, and contrary to it the outfit’s chief Saad Rizvi, after his release, went to the house of each deceased worker.

Khalil Tahir Sandhu, another N Leaguer, called for penalising those who levelled false allegations of blasphemy.

Published in Dawn, December 17th, 2021