Pakistan police detain scores after mob kills Sri Lankan

Police have arrested 13 suspects and detained dozens of others in the lynching of a Sri Lankan employee at a sports equipment factory in eastern Pakistan.

Punjab police chief Rao Sardar said on Saturday that investigators arrested prominent suspects after seeing their clear role on video in instigating workers to violence, killing the manager and dragging his body outside, and taking selfies with his burning body and proudly admitting what they did.

Sardar, in his initial report to authorities, said the victim had asked the workers to remove all stickers from factory machines before a foreign delegation arrived. 

It said the incident started at around 11 a.m. and three constables reached the factory to control the situation shortly after.

Hassan Khawar, spokesman for the Punjab government, said the provincial police chief was personally overseeing the investigation.

Khurram Shahzad, a police official in Sialkot district, said 123 suspects were detained in ongoing raids.

The lynching was widely condemned by Pakistan's military and political leadership, prominent social and religious figures and civil society members.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Sugeeswara Gunaratne said Friday that Sri Lanka's embassy in Islamabad was verifying details of the incident with Pakistani authorities. 

Allegation of blasphemy

A mob of hundreds of enraged Muslims descended on the factory in the district of Sialkot in Punjab province on Friday after the Sri Lankan manager of the factory was accused of blasphemy.

READ MORE: Mob kills Sri Lankan over alleged blasphemy in Pakistan

The mob grabbed Priyantha Kumara, lynched him and publicly burned the body, according to police. 

Factory workers accused the victim of desecrating posters bearing the name of Prophet Muhammad.

In the conservative society of Pakistan mere allegations of blasphemy invite mob attacks.

The country's blasphemy law carries the death penalty for anyone found guilty of the offence.

Pakistan’s government has long been under pressure to change the country’s blasphemy laws, which far-right religious groups strongly resist.

A Punjab governor was shot and killed by his own guard in 2011 after he defended a Christian woman, Aasia Bibi, who was accused of blasphemy. 

She was acquitted after spending eight years on death row and, following threats, left Pakistan for Canada to join her family.