Pakistan saw a heart wrenching, disgusting and condemnable crime against humanity when a 49-years old Sri Lankan citizen was brutally killed by a mob in Sialkot, Punjab on December 03, 2021 over blasphemy allegations. Given the nature of the incident and it’s similarity with many other such unfortunate incidents international and national press took up the murder seriously and rigorously. Newspapers from Pakistan and Sri Lanka covered the issue not only to inform the readers but to highlight various dynamics and features of such incidents that occur every now and then in Pakistan. This research endeavor is an attempt to explore and analyze the news coverage of the killing of Mr. Priyantha Kumara in Pakistani and Sri Lankan newspapers. This study is an attempt to test a theory called Civil Sphere Theory proposed by Jeffrey C. Alexander in his book The Civil Sphere (2006). The findings of the study suggest that the newspapers in an attempt to perform the ‘civil repair’ role in their news stories, portrayed Mr. Priyantha Kumara as a ‘victim’ and ‘disciplined man’ (civil code) and the murderers as insane, wild-passionate, excitable, irrational, violent and unlawful people (anticivil codes) by using words such as violent, brutal, and inhumane. Their actions have been highlighted as ‘anticivil’ and the role of authorities has been portrayed as ‘civil’.

Index Terms- Blasphemy, Civil Sphere Theory, Lynching of Priyantha Kumara, Religious Minorities, Sialkot Incident, Solidarity Discourse.