CII to mull over causes of rising intolerance following Sialkot incident

ISLAMABAD: Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) has summoned an extraordinary meeting on December 20 to examine the causes leading to incidents such as the mob lynching of a Sri Lankan national in Sialkot earlier this month.

On December 3, Priyantha Kumara, who was working as a manager at a private factory in Sialkot, was tortured to death by a mob over alleged blasphemy and his body was later set on fire.

CII would also make deliberation on the responsibilities of state and public in such cases. It will also make recommendations to control violent trends in society and steps for controlling such incidents in the future.

Besides CII members, the experts in fields of sociology, criminology, psychology, and law as well as the police officials would also attend the session.

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The participants will include Punjab Minister for Human Rights and Minority Affairs Ejaz Alam, Retired Supreme Court (SC) Judge Muhammad Raza Khan, Dr Sahibzada Sajid-ur-Rehman, Khursheed Ahamad Nadeem, Dr Muhammad Jahanzeb Khan, FATA University Vice-Chancellor (VC) Ahsan Ghani, former National Coordinator of National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA) Asif Mahmood and others.

The outcome of the session will be in form of proposals of measures to control extremist trends and lawlessness in society. The suggestions in this regard will be shared with the media CII Chairman Dr Qibla Ayaz in a press conference.

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The brutal killing of the foreign national has drawn widespread condemnation from all sections of society. In a joint statement issued by CII, the clerics from all factions had termed leveling of blasphemy charges without substantial evidence as un-Islamic.