‘We have planted time bombs in society, they will explode if not defused’

Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry admitted on Saturday that he was short of words to pen down some words about the gruesome murder of a Sri Lankan national who was tortured and burned by a violent mob in Sialkot yesterday.

Read more: Army chief condemns ‘cold-blooded’ murder of Sri Lankan national in Sialkot

In another incident of mob justice on Friday, Sri Lankan factory manager, Priyantha Kumara, was beaten to death over allegations of blasphemy in a “horrific” attack that Prime Minister Imran Khan said brought shame on the country.

Several video clips shared on social media showed a mob beating Kumara. Other clips showed his body set ablaze, as well as the overturned wreckage of what was said to be his car.

Many in the mob made no attempt to hide their identity and some took selfies in front of the burning corpse.

The incident shocked Pakistanis and the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa also called it a “cold-blooded and shameful murder.”

Chaudhry took to Twitter on Saturday and said, “I have been thinking since yesterday that what should I write regarding the Sialkot incident as words have become useless.”

ہم نے معاشرے میں ٹائم بم لگا دئیے ہیں ان بموں کو ناکارہ نہ کیا تو وہ پھٹیں گے ہی اور کیا کریں گے، وقت ریت کی طرح ہاتھوں سے نکل رہا ہے بہت توجہ چاہئے بہت توجہ۔۔۔۔۔

— Ch Fawad Hussain (@fawadchaudhry) December 4, 2021

“Such incidents pain us for 48 hours, and then everything becomes normal again, and our feelings remain buried until the next incident. This insensitivity is a sign of a great storm. Rivers of blood flowed before us in countries.”

“We have planted time bombs in the society,” said the PTI minister and feared, “If these bombs are not defused, then they will explode. What else they will do? Time is running out of hands like sand.”

“A lot of attention is needed, a lot,” said Chaudhry in a warning tone.

On November 28, thousands of people had torched a police station in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa after demanding the officers hand over a man accused of allegedly burning the Quran.

Read more: Police say 110 suspects in Sialkot lynching arrested

In April 2017, an angry mob had lynched university student Mashal Khan when he was falsely accused of posting blasphemous content online. A Christian couple was lynched then burnt in a kiln in Punjab in 2014 over an alleged blasphemy allegation.