Lynching of Mashal Khan
[6][7] Mashal Khan's father, speaking to media on 21 March 2019, claimed that he was satisfied with Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) verdict.
"[15] In March 2017, the Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif supported a crackdown on blasphemous material posted on social media and described blasphemy as an "unpardonable offence".
[18] On 13 April 2017, the assistant registrar posted an official notice on the online board announcing that three students were under investigation for blasphemous activities, and had been suspended:[19] I am directed to notify that the following Inquiry Committee has been constituted to probe into the matter of blasphemous activities carried by the students of Department of Journalism namely, Mr. Abdullah, Mr. Mashal and Mr. Zubair.
[19] Mashal was killed inside the premises of the Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan where he was a student of mass communication.
[21][27] Graphic video footage of the lynching showed Khan was lying on the floor; his body bore marks of severe torture and was not moving.
Most neighbours kept away from the funeral, as threats made earlier by a local to anyone attending led them to fear follow-up attacks from religious mobs.
The Inspector General Police stated "We did not find any concrete evidence under which an investigation or legal action can be launched against Mashal, Abdullah or Zubair".
[4] According to Abdullah, the AWK University's administration summoned him to the Mass Communications chairman's office, where they pressured him into accusing Mashal of blasphemy.
[34] Lecturers Ziaullah Hamdard and Pir Asfandyar, clerks Anees, Saeed and Idrees, and superintendent Arshad were present and summoned him on the issue.
Class representative Mudassar Bashir asked him to become a witness of the alleged blasphemy, while clerk Idrees repeated his opposition to having a communist in AWK University.
[34] The proposition of creating a committee of inquiry was opposed by clerk Idrees and class leader Bashir, while security in-charge Bilal Bakhsh declared his will to handle the issue quickly, occasionally stating his will to kill the student.
[35] Bilal Baksh, a computer operator at the university, was alleged to have shouted slogans and called for a mob to build around Mr. Khan and murder him.
[39] The 13-member Joint Investigation Team (JIT) constituted by the Supreme Court of Pakistan in response to the lynching gave its final report on 3 June 2017.
The report cleared Mashal of all blasphemy charges and termed his lynching a premeditated murder conducted by certain elements in the student body and the university administration.
The report also cleared Mashal's two friends, Abdullah and Zubair, of any blasphemy while raising questions about the efficacy of Mardan Police's response to the incident.
[45] It was further found that the university had serious management issues where top posts were filled by people of criminal background due to their political affiliation.
It has been suggested in the report that strict departmental action should be taken against registrar Sher Alam, director administration Peer Asfandyar, chief security officer Inayatullah Afridi, provost Fayaz Ali Shah, chief proctor professor Idrees, director sports professor Farooq and assistant registrar Humyaun for their incompetence.
Five other convicts named Bilal Bakhsh, Fazal-i-Raziq, Mujeebullah, Ishfaq Khan and Mudassir Bashir were awarded life-time imprisonment.
[65] All these protests inside the country and solidarity campaign across the world demanded to put pressure on Pakistani State to take action against the murderers.
Due to these protests many religious scholars had to announce Khan as a Martyr which shows the intensity of public outrage at this murder.
