Faheem Shah, a grade 12 student from Charsadda, on Friday confessed to killing Hafiz Sareer Ahmed — his college's principal — after being rebuked for missing classes.

In a confessional statement, recorded in the court of Judicial Magistrate-I Attaullah Jan, Faheem said that he was attending a Mehfil-i-Milad in his village when some people asked him to accompany them to the protest at Faizabad.

He said that he accepted the invitation and spent a night at the sit-in before returning to Charsadda. However, even after returning from the sit-in, he did not attend classes and remained absent from his college for a few days, for which he was censured by his principal.

"After being censured for skipping school, in anger I took a pistol and opened fired and killed the principal,” the arrested student's confession said.

He recalled that Frontier Constabulary (FC) personnel had arrested him on the spot, recovered the pistol and handed him over to the police.

"I am very ashamed of my action," he concluded.

Earlier, the student, while being arrested, had appeared to justify the murder saying he believed the college principal had committed blasphemy.

It was not immediately clear what had prompted that charge.

"I have been taught... to kill... to not be afraid. Don't be afraid of disrespecting the one who [commits blasphemy]," the student said.