Lynching of foreigner threatens economic recovery in Pakistan

Sri Lankan factory manager was accused of blasphemy by a mob.

The lynching of a Sri Lankan factory manager has threatened economic recovery in Pakistan.

Priyantha Kumara, 49, manager of Rajco Industries, was killed on Friday by an angry mob of hundreds of people, including factory workers, on allegations of blasphemy. So far, police have arrested 131 people involved in the lynching in Sialkot and booked hundreds of people for facilitating the murder.

Prime Minister Imran Khan tweeted that he had spoken to Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa "to convey our nation's anger and shame to people of Sri Lanka at the vigilante killing of Priyantha Diyawadana in Sialkot."

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, the elder brother of the president, tweeted: "My heart goes out to his wife and family. #SriLanka and her people are confident that PM [Khan] will keep to his commitment to bring all those involved to justice." Sialkot, 230 km southeast of the capital, Islamabad, is famous for manufacturing sporting goods and clothing, surgical instruments, martial arts uniforms and footwear. According to estimates, Sialkot is responsible for 10% of Pakistani goods exports and is one of the most successful commercial cities in the country.

Sialkot's business community, who built its own airport and airline, expressed concern over the lynching of a Sri Lankan national. Officials of the Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry said in press statements that the negative effects of the lynching on the city's export-based industry might take a long time to heal.

With rising inflation and needing loans from the International Monetary Fund, Pakistan's economy is struggling. The country plans to impose new taxes and cut development spending by more than 300 billion rupees ($1.7 billion) as prerequisites for qualifying for the next tranche of IMF loans.

Experts fear that the lynching could badly affect the economy of Pakistan in general and Sialkot in particular.

Sabookh Syed, an independent analyst based in Islamabad covering religious extremism for two decades, explained that Western professionals do not work in Pakistan due to security reasons, so the country is left with only South Asia experts who can apply their expertise to the Pakistani economy. "The lynching of Sri Lankan factory manager will now even reduce the arrival of South Asian experts, which will badly affect the economy," he told Nikkei Asia. He further added that events like the Sialkot lynching will also cause a brain drain from Pakistan. "Businessmen will also be compelled to shift out their capital out of Pakistan due to regular disruptions caused to the economic activity by religious protests."

Experts also fear that Pakistan could get into more trouble with global financial bodies and watchdogs in the wake of the Sialkot slaying.

Ahmed Naeem Salik, a research fellow at the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad, said that Pakistan's Generalized Scheme of Preferences Plus (GSP+) status -- a European Union concession on imports favorable to Pakistani goods that must be reviewed in the coming year -- will face difficulties in getting passed again due to the country's human rights record. "Pakistan is already in the [Financial Action Task Force] gray list, and this [event] will also hurt Pakistan's chances of getting out of it. So, all in all, when all of these are combined, Pakistan's economy is in for a big shock," Salik told Nikkei.

Pakistan needs to reform its blasphemy laws if it wants to get out of this quagmire, according to experts.

Krzysztof Iwanek, head of the Asia Research Center at the War Studies University in Warsaw, said blasphemy laws as such should be discontinued in all countries. "In Pakistan, the state should react strongly against such acts of persecution. But such legal changes appear politically impossible to carry out as of now," he told Nikkei.

Salik also said that reasonable religious people need to be brought on board to reformulate the religious laws in the country. "The writ of the state needs to be established, and speedy justice be given without any biases," he said.

https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/International-relations/Lynching-of-foreigner-threatens-economic-recovery-in-Pakistan