Malik Adnan

Mobile footage with heart-wrenching images showed one person trying to shield Priyantha to save his life, without fleeing from the furious mobsters. Later he was identified as Malik Adnan, who has now become the recipient of a prestigious bravery award of Pakistan – Tamgha I Shujaat.

“On behalf of the nation I want to salute moral courage & bravery of Malik Adnan who tried his utmost to shelter & save Priyantha Diyawadana from the vigilante mob in Sialkot incl endangering his own life by physically trying to shield victim,” Prime Minister Khan tweeted.

Who is this Malik Adnan? He is a resident of Olakh Jattan, a village near Sialkot, and belongs to the Malik community. He is the deputy manager of Rajco Industries and has been working there for the last 10 years.

Talking to the media, Malik Adnan said he tried his best to save Priyantha’s life but couldn’t as there was a large crowd.

“At the time of the incident, people entered through the second gate of the factory, including employees of another factory and villagers,” he said.

“When a large number of angry people attacked Priyantha, I went ahead and tried to persuade them and tried to stop them but people were not ready to listen or stop the violence,” he said, adding that he knew a lot of people involved in the violence and he was providing details to the police.

He said factory guards, who were protecting the factory facilities, didn’t know that the attackers had assaulted their manager and taken him out.

“There was another person who joined me. He begged them not to hurt him but they didn’t listen,” he said, adding that Priyantha did not know how to read or write Urdu.

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