Khanewal mob lynching: PM vows ‘severe action’ as Punjab police arrest 62 suspects

The Punjab police has arrested 62 suspects in the Khanewal incident, where a man was reportedly stoned to death by a mob in Khanewal district's Mian Channu over alleged blasphemy, Aaj News reported on Sunday.

The incident, which occurred on Saturday, was followed by Prime Minister Imran Khan saying that the government has zero tolerance and vowed to counter mob lynching with "full severity of the law".

“I have asked Punjab IG for a report on action taken against perpetrators of the lynching in Mian Channu and against the police who failed in their duty,” the premier said in a Twitter post.

"We have zero tolerance for anyone taking the law into their own hands & mob lynchings will be dealt with full severity of the law."

Meanwhile, Punjab Police announced the arrest of 62 suspects in the incident on its official Twitter handle.

Sialkot lynching case: Police arrest 33 more suspects

“The suspects were arrested in 120 raids conducted in the area on Saturday night as per the initial inquiry report submitted to Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar,” it said, adding that the case has been registered against 300 unidentified persons.

On the directives of the Punjab chief minister and the IG police, the cops continued the "covert operation" throughout the night. "Taking the law into one's own hands will not be allowed," it read.

The incident follows the one in December, where a mob of people described as “employees” of a garment factory in Sialkot tortured and killed their Sri Lankan manager in factory premises and set his body on fire over blasphemy accusation.

Video footage that went viral on social media showed the mob first brutally beat up the foreign national, identified as Priyantha Kumara, inside the factory and then dragged his corpse on the road and set it on fire.