PM says nation should stand united in condemning Mashal Khan’s murder

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Saturday called on the nation to stand united in condemning the murder of university student Mashal Khan and to promote tolerance and rule of law in society.

"I am shocked and saddened by the senseless display of mob justice that resulted in the murder of a young student Mashal Khan at Wali Khan University, Mardan," the prime minister said in a statement.

The prime minister stressed that perpetrators of this act should know that the state will not tolerate citizens taking the law into their own hands. The prime minister has also directed the police to apprehend those responsible for this act.

“No father should have to send his child off to be educated, with the fear of having him return in a coffin.”

The prime minister's daughter, Maryam Nawaz Sharif, also condemned the incident in a message sent out to her 3.1 million followers on Twitter. 

Shocked to see Mashal Khan killing video. Vigilantism &mob justice are indicative of regressive & putrid mindset. Is that what we stand for?

— Maryam Nawaz Sharif (@MaryamNSharif) April 15, 2017

Images of brutal killing of two brothers in Sialkot years ago still haunts & now #MashalKhan. Do we want to be known as benighted nation?

— Maryam Nawaz Sharif (@MaryamNSharif) April 15, 2017

Defence Minister Khawaja Asif also condemned the mob violence, urging the need to enforce the writ of law in the country.

Lynching of #Mashal by mob is shameful for a society believing in Prophet PBUH of love,mercy and compassion..writ of Law must b enforced

— Khawaja M. Asif (@KhawajaMAsif) April 15, 2017

Falsely accusing someone of blasphemy without verification is also blasphemy.. this is not the teaching of our Rasool Rehmat ul Almeen PBUH

— Khawaja M. Asif (@KhawajaMAsif) April 15, 2017

Mashal Khan, a 23-year-old journalism student at Abdul Wali Khan University, was brutally murdered on Thursday by an angry mob which accused him of blasphemy. He was stripped, beaten, shot, and thrown from the second floor of his hostel at the university.

Earlier today, an anti-terrorism court has charged eight students with murder and terrorism and granted police a four-day physical remand of the suspects.

Police have registered two separate cases against 20 suspects under clauses 427, 297, 302 and 148 of the Pakistan Penal Code and section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act. The suspects were identified from video footage of the gruesome incident.

So far a total of 12 people have been arrested over the incident and police are hunting for more suspects. Four others were arrested earlier today.

Graphic video footage from the crime scene showed dozens of men outside the hostel kicking and hurling projectiles at a body sprawled on the ground.

Related: Initial probe finds no evidence of Mashal committing blasphemy: police

Mushtaq Ghani, Information Minister of northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, said the government had also requested the Peshawar High Court to conduct a judicial probe into the incident.

Mashal Khan was a 23-year-old journalism student at the Abdul Wali Khan university in Mardan.

Blasphemy is a hugely sensitive charge in Pakistan, where even unproven blasphemy allegations can cause mob lynchings and violence.

At least 65 people have been murdered over blasphemy allegations since 1990.

The independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has urged that all those involved in the murder of Mashal Khan be brought to justice.

"The state's abject failure to protect Mashal Khan's right to life has created great panic and horror among students and academia. Unless all those who played any part in Mashal's brutal murder are brought to justice, such barbarity will only spread," it said.

At his funeral on Friday, Khan's father said he hoped his son's murder would "evoke realisation among people that killing an innocent is a sin".