The disgusting and brutal act of lynching the Sri Lankan citizen defamed the whole of Pakistani society where majority of people are very caring and considerate for the people belonging to other religions.
by Ali Sukhanver
Pakistanis had to witness a very painful rather heart-breaking incident just a few days back; the brutal murder of a factory manager belonging to Sri Lanka. The incident took place in Sialkot; an industrial city of Pakistan. Though reports say that it was an act of some individuals and the whole nation including the religious strata of society strongly condemned it but this incident certainly damaged the gradually strengthening soft image of the country.
Moreover, this incident severely hurt the feelings of Pakistan’s all-weather friend Sri Lanka which is the largest eye-donor to Pakistan. Reports say that since 1967 Pakistan has received more than 35,000 corneas from Sri Lanka. The disgusting and brutal act of lynching the Sri Lankan citizen defamed the whole of Pakistani society where majority of people are very caring and considerate for the people belonging to other religions. Moreover, Pakistan and Sri Lanka have maintained very close, cordial and mutually supportive relations since 1948. Pakistan's supply of high-tech military equipment and positioning of some of its highly trained army officers in Sri Lanka had played a key role in the ultimate defeat of Tamil Tigers. It was Pakistan which supplied the state-of-the-art weaponry to Lankan army to accelerate its counter-insurgency operations against the LTTE in 2009. It all finally ended with the killing of Tamil chief Vellupillai Prabhakaran.
Though the whole Pakistani nation is grieved rather ashamed at what had happened there in Sialkot but blaming and condemning the whole nation on the basis of this single incident is something very unfair. Today, very, unfortunately, this sad incident is being ‘celebrated’ officially in our neighbouring country India. All newspapers and all TV channels there are trying their utmost to exploit this incident against Pakistan. They are intentionally ignoring the fact that the whole of Pakistani nation was not involved in that brutality; it was an act of a small group of people; such incidents do occur so many times all over the world. From India to New Zealand and to Myanmar, the list of such horrible incidents is very long.
Aljazeera reported on 17th June this year that the military set a village Kin Ma in central Myanmar on fire after a clash with opponents, leaving at least two elderly people burned to death, according to several people who lived in the village. The blaze was large enough to be recorded by NASA’s satellite fire-tracking system. “The security forces set the fires after confronting opponents of the coup and that at least two people were killed,” said the villagers talking to media. In May 2018, the lynching of 10 Muslim travelers in retaliation over the murder and rape of a Buddhist Rakhine woman ignited a new wave of violence in Arakan state. Escalating incidents of violence included further rapes, murder, arson and torture and the main target were Rohingya women and children. This violence resulted in burning of entire villages and displacement of more than 100,000 people. Myanmar’s Rohingya community is considered one of the most persecuted communities in the world. On 2nd September 2018, the Reuters reported killing of 10 Rohingya Muslim captives by Buddhist villagers and Myanmar troops. Brutally they all were dumped in a shallow grave while some of them were still alive. “One grave for 10 people,” said Soe Chay, 55, a retired soldier from Inn Din’s Rakhine Buddhist community who said he helped dig the pit and saw the killings. The soldiers shot each man two or three times, he said. “When they were being buried, some were still making noises. Others were already dead.”
In India, situation regarding lynching and burning is more horrible. In 2015, the BBC reported the mob lynching of a 50-year-old man in Dadri area of northern India. His name was Akhlaq and he was a poor Muslim. That horrible night, rumours engulfed the whole locality that the family of Akhlaq had been storing and consuming beef at home. It was around 10.30 at night when a frenzied mob, wielding sticks, swords and cheap pistols burst into their home, accusing the family of having slaughtered a cow and consuming it. Akhlaq’s 75-year-old mother, Asghari said talking to media with tearful eyes, “They came from everywhere. Over the walls, through the gate, they just barged into the house, shouting that we had slaughtered a cow. Some of our immediate Hindu neighbours tried to intervene, telling the mob to leave the family alone, but to no avail.” She further said, “The mob bashed his head with a sewing machine lying nearby and dragged him and his son Danish out of the house. From that point the beating became even more brutal.” Both Akhlaq and his son Danish were beaten with bricks, kicked and stabbed repeatedly.
In the lynching case of Akhlaq, we see that a few Hindu neighbours played a very positive role and did all possible to save Akhlaq but a few individuals could never compete with a mob. Same thing happened there in Sialkot with the Sri Lankan factory manager. Some of the factory workers and particularly an assistant manager tried all their best to save the unlucky poor soul but could not do so. Those who tried to rescue him were the Muslims just the same way in Akhlaq’s case, the rescuers were the Hindus. On the basis of some individuals’ non-sense behaviour, we cannot blame and frame the whole society. By doing so, we do nothing but promote hatred and enmity.
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