MARDAN: Members of Aman Jirga, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, here on Friday staged a protest demonstration and held the administration of Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan responsible for the lynching of a student, Mashal Khan, on premises of the university campus on Thursday (April 13).

The Aman Jirga provincial president Syed Kamal Shah, general secretary Arshid Manan and Dr Ibrahim led the protesters.

They marched from the townhall to the Abdul Wali Khan University and held a protest demonstration in front of the main gate of the varsity blocking the busy Mardan-Malakand road for over an hour.

Speakers flay varsity admin for failure to thwart incident

Addressing the protesters, Mr Shah hit out at the varsity administration for its failure to thwart the lynching incident on the campus.

“It was a pre-planned conspiracy in which officials, including professors, lecturers and other staff of Abdul Wali Khan University, were involved,” he alleged, adding that most of the university staff were corrupt and had criminal mind.

He said that those corrupt officials did not want that an honest and competent candidate was appointed on the vacant post of vice-chancellor, fearing that such a VC would take action against them for their irregularities.

Other speakers said that Mashal Khan had been killed for raising his voice against the corrupt administration of the university.

They asked why the administration of varsity did not resolve the issue or take action in time against Mashal if he was involved in the alleged blasphemy for the last several months.

They alleged that former vice-chancellor of Abdul Wali Khan University, Dr Ishan Ali, was also responsible for the lynching incident.

The speakers condemned the student and demanded of the authorities concerned to award exemplary punishment to all those behind the lynching incident.

Published in Dawn, April 22nd, 2017