ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Tuesday his government would not allow anyone to misuse religion to perpetrate violence in Pakistan as he addressed a memorial service for a Sri Lankan national who was lynched in the city of Sialkot last week over a blasphemy allegation.
Priyantha Kumara, who worked as a manager at a garment factory, was attacked and killed by a Muslim mob on Friday. The crowd also publicly burned his body over what police have said are accusations he desecrated religious posters.
Blasphemy is considered a deeply sensitive issue in Pakistan and carries the death penalty. International and domestic rights groups say accusations of blasphemy have often been used to intimidate religious minorities and settle personal scores.
"The government will not spare anyone who tries to use religion, particularly the name of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), to generate violence," the prime minister said. "Such instances will not be allowed to take place on my watch.”

The prime minister also presented a certificate of appreciation to Malik Adnan, an employee in Sialkot who tried to shield the Sri Lankan factory manager from the mob. 
"One moral man is an army," Khan said as he praised Adnan for his bravery and called him an inspiration for the Pakistani youth.
The prime minister said Sialkot's business community had raised US$100,000 for Kumara's bereaved wife and two children and pledged to take care of their financial requirements.
Earlier in the day, Sri Lanka's high commissioner in Islamabad, Mohan Vijay Vikrama, said Kumara’s lynching would not affect bilateral ties.
Pakistan has had close relations with Sri Lanka for years and assisted it in a 25-year-long conflict between Tamil separatist rebels and the Sri Lankan government.
“Your country [Pakistan] has many times come and assisted us, when we needed it and vice versa, so this particular incident is not going to have an impact on the relations of two countries, I will assure that,” the ambassador said during a visit by a group of Pakistani religious scholars to the Sri Lankan high commission to condole over the killing.
“This particular incident is horrific, horrendous, which should not have happened in any place in Pakistan, nor in the world and we condemned it," he added. "But the manner in which the clergy, the government and the people have risen up [against the incident] to take action in catching the culprits, remanding them and initiating legal proceeding, is very satisfying."
Pakistan's prime minister also met with senior military and civilian leaders on Monday and called for a "comprehensive strategy" against mob violence.