ISLAMABAD: Tabling a resolution in the National Assembly on Friday to hold a debate on the Sialkot tragedy in which Sri Lankan national Priyantha Kumara was lynched by an unruly mob for allegedly committing blasphemy, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Parliamentary Affairs Dr Babar Awan described the delay in deciding cases such as motorway rape case, Zainab rape and murder case and Noor Muqaddam beheading case as loopholes or flaws in the penal laws of the country, which needed to be improved.

Dr Awan urged both the opposition and the treasury to make a joint effort to improve the penal laws of the country so that culprits behind such heinous crimes could be punished in time.

He said that the Sri Lankan manager’s lynching and burning of his body has bowed the head of the entire nation in shame. “This incident has brought a bad name to the country in the entire world,” he said.

He requested NA Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri, who was presiding over the session, to suspend the agenda of the day and confine proceedings of the house only to the Sialkot tragedy.

Mr Suri accepted the req­u­­est and ordered suspension of the agenda of the day and the resolution was adopted.

Dr Awan said the main culprits behind the Sialkot incident had been arrested and their cases would be tried in an anti-terrorism court.

Published in Dawn, December 25th, 2021