ISLAMABAD – The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police submitted a detailed report on Mashal Khan’s lynching to the Supreme Court of Pakistan on Tuesday.
The report was submitted in the apex court by Mardan RPO Alam Khan Shinwari.
According to sources, the report states that the university administration made a telephone call to Mardan police at 12:52 PM on April 13 and asked them to reach the campus, without mentioning the incident.
After the call, Mardan DSP Haider Khan reached the university and saw an angry mob torturing Mashal Khan’s friend, Abdullah. DSP Haider Khan intervened and rescued Abdullah, the report states, adding that police had obtained call data records of Abdullah as well as the CCTV footage of the incident.
The report mentions that the lynching survivor Abdullah recorded his statement under CRPC 164, in which he said the university administration was unhappy with Mashal and had initiated an inquiry against Mashal over allegations of blasphemy on the day of the killing.
‘Abdullah was summoned by the inquiry committee on April 13 and was forced to testify against Mashal, but he refused. Abdullah was then shut in a bathroom’ the report quotes his statement.
It bears mentioning that Mashal Khan, a student of Mass Communication was lynched at his Abdul wali Khan university campus premises by a violent mob that accused him of committing blasphemy while another student Abdullah was injured.
On April 16, Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Saqib Nisar took suo moto notice of the murder and directed Inspector General Police KP Salahuddin Khan Mehsud to present a report on the incident within the next 36 hours.
So far, 22 individuals have been arrested in the murder case, including six employees of the university.
A suspect in the lynching of Mashal Khan, identified as Wajahat, confessed in a statement recorded before the magistrate yesterday and placed blame on the administration of the university.
He claimed the administration had called the meeting to decide the case of Mashal Khan but the situation got out of hand when he testified against the three students and the security in-charge, named Bilal Baksh, came to the meeting and warned “that anyone taking the side of Mashal and his comrades would be dealt with iron hands.”
Wajahat added that Bilal had said he would kill Mashal. Following Bilal’s statement the sitting congress turned into a violent mob and rushed towards the hostel that ultimately led to Mashal’s lynching.
