SWABI: Speakers at a ceremony here on Sunday said that it was responsibility of state to ensure punishment to all those people, who were directly and indirectly involved in the lynching of Mashal Khan.

They ceremony was held to observe the first the death anniversary of Mashal Khan. Workers of different political parties, members of welfare bodies, writers and intellectual participated in the gathering. The participants of the ceremony demanded of the authorities to provide justice to the family of Mashal.

Mashal Khan, a resident of Zaida, was a student of journalism department at Abdul Wali Khan University, Mardan. He was lynched to death by a mob after he was accused of blasphemy on April 13, 2017.

Speakers say JIT report should be made public

The speakers said that Mashal was victim of a conspiracy hatched against him by the student leaders and university employees. The joint investigation team (JIT) said in its report that allegations levelled against him were baseless.

The speakers recalled that on February 7 an anti-terrorism court in Abbottabad had awarded death sentence to one and 25-year imprisonment to five others in the case but Mashal’s father said that he was not satisfied and challenged the verdict in the Peshawar High Court.

The speakers said that the allegations levelled against Mashal were baseless. They said that the JIT also found him innocent. They added that the government should take steps for protecting students, so that more Mashals might not fall prey to such allegations.

Mohammad Iqbal, Mashal’s father, said that his other son Aimal Khan had already challenged the verdict of the anti-terrorism court. “We want all the accused to be punished. How could we forget the day when we got his dead body? I have sent my son to university for higher education, but we received his mutilated body,” he said.

Salim Khan, former provincial general secretary of ANP, said that Mashal’s father did not receive the JIT report owing to unknown reasons. “The JIT report should be made public,” he demanded.

PPP leader Liaquat Shabab said that they had to change their approach and those people, who wanted to harm their pious religion, must be stopped. “We should avoid using religion for achieving our own objectives. Our religion is religion of peace, brotherhood and fraternity,” he added.

Awami Workers Party leader Asim Sajjad said that provision of justice should be ensured in all circumstances to Mahsal’s family by the government. He said that it was responsibility of the government to provide security to his family and no lame excuse in that connection would be acceptable.

Maha Baloch, a rights activist, said that Mashal’s crime was that he exposed the corruption and corrupt practices in Wali Khan University. That’s why he was targeted under a well-planned conspiracy, she added.

Various other leaders of political parties and activists of different organisations also spoke on the occasion.

Published in Dawn, May 14th, 2018