‘All of his bones were broken, the body was 99 per cent burnt’

Nilushi Dissanayake, wife of Sri Lankan factory manager who was beaten to death and set ablaze by a mob in Pakistan, holds her husband’s graduation photograph at her home in Ganemulla. Pic/AFP

Nearly all bones of Sri Lankan national Priyantha Kumara Diyawadana were broken and his body was 99 per cent burnt in the horrific lynching incident in Pakistan's Punjab province, a media report on Sunday said, citing his post-mortem report.

Angry supporters of the hardline Islamist party Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) attacked a garment factory on Friday and lynched its general manager Diyawadana, who was in his 40s, before setting his body on fire over allegations of blasphemy. The post-mortem report of Diyawadana cited skull and jaw fractures as the cause of death, the Geo News reported.
All his vital organs, liver, stomach and one of his kidneys, were affected, while torture marks were visible all over his body and his spinal cord was broken at three different points, the report said.

The post-mortem report of the Sri Lankan national revealed that 99 per cent of his body was burned, and with the exception of one foot, all his bones were broken, it said.

According to a Punjab Police spokesperson, following the autopsy, Diyawadana's body was sent to Lahore where it will be handed over to the Sri Lankan consulate. After all legal formalities, the body will be sent to Sri Lanka via a special flight, the report quoted the official as saying.

Meanwhile, a video footage has emerged showing a man jump in and try to save the Sri Lankan national as the mob thrashed him, the report said, adding that he bore the beating for a while but was unable to continue after a while. After Diyawadana was killed, another man was seen pleading to the mob to not set it on fire, but he was thrown aside by the mob, the report added. As pressure mounted on the Pakistani government to bring the guilty to justice, over 800 people have been booked under terrorism charges.

‘There will be no mercy to the mob'

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has assured Sri Lanka's President Gotabaya Rajapaksa that there will be no mercy to the mob, which lynched Sri Lankan national Priyantha Kumara Diyawadana over allegations of blasphemy, the President's office said on Sunday. Khan telephoned Rajapaksa and said that 113 people have been arrested so far, it said.

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