SWABI: Iqbal Khan, father of 23-year-old student Mashal Khan of Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan, who was lynched by a vigilante mob on April 13 over allegations of blasphemy, says that his two young daughters have been forced by circumstances to give up their regular education due to security reasons.

Talking to Dawn here on Sunday, he said Mashal’s two younger sisters - Storia Iqbal and Saba Iqbal - could not attend their educational institutions in the district and elsewhere in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa owing to grave threats to their lives.

Iqbal’s elder son, Aimal Iqbal works in Pakistan Air Force, daughter Storia was studying in pharmacy department in University of Swabi and younger daughter, Saba, was a 9th grader in a private school in Marghuz village at the time of lynching of their brother.

To a question, Iqbal Khan said: “It was not possible for my daughters to continue their education in the district’s educational institutions.”

He said Saba did not even attend her last practical examination after the tragic killing of her brother and Storia was also not allowed by them to continue education owing to security threats.

The bereaved father said he did not know as to how the education and future of his daughters could be secured. However, he said Saba continued preparing for the 10th class examinations along with her elder sister.

Earlier, he had filed a petition in the Supreme Court, seeking government’s help for relocation of family to Islamabad because of security threats in the district and elsewhere in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. But, the apex court has yet to make any decision in this regard, he said.

Iqbal Khan also said he did not get any help from the federal and KP governments and human rights organisations over unknown reasons. The Mashal’s father plainly ruled out any reconciliation with all those who were allegedly involved in the killing of his son. Let the court decide about their fate, he added.

“We were deprived of a young talented and energetic son and the way he was killed had no parallel in the history. We had attached great expectations to him. Now all we demand is justice,” he said.

Published in Dawn, November 27th, 2017