Lynching trial to begin in a month

Law minister informs Punjab Assembly about arrests, investigations

LAHORE:

Provincial Law Minister Basharat Raja informed the Punjab Assembly on Thursday that the challan of the Sialkot incident of the lynching of a Sri Lankan citizen would be submitted within a month.

Lawmakers from both the treasury and opposition benches continued discussion on the incident for the second day fully agreed on not letting the perpetrators evade justice at any cost.

Basharat Raja said the government would initiate steps for avoiding such gory incidents in future.

He said the government would implement through legislation the recommendations in this regard of the Council of Islamic Ideology and Shan-e-Rehmatul-Lil-Alameen (PBUH) Authority.

Read 'Day of shame': PM vows to punish culprits of Sialkot lynching

The law minister added that 182 people suspected of being involved in the incident had been taken into custody by the police and 60 of them had been released because of lack of evidence against them. He said 120 people had been investigated and 52 of them had been arrested in connection with the case.

The minister said 18 of the suspects were in physical remand, while no one had been released on bail.

PML-N’s Khalil Tahir Sindhu demanded action against those sowing divisions in the society. PML-N’s Sami Ullah Khan said the leader of Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan went to the homes of those who had died in recent clashes with the police, while Chief Minister Usman Buzdar could not visit the families of the martyred officials.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 17^th, 2021.