Mashal lynching sullies ANP’s reputation in Mardan

JIT report on lynching case termed partial by politician

MARDAN: The alleged involvement of activists of Pakhtun Students Federation (PkSF), the student wing of Awami National Party, in the Mashal Khan lynching case has sullied the reputation of ANP in the district.

Mashal Khan, who was the student of Journalism and Mass Communication Department of the Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan, was lynched by a mob of fellow students, university employees and outsiders at its Garden Campus on April 13.

The joint investigation team (JIT) that probed the gory incident in its report confirmed the involvement of the PkSF in the case. The JIT report said that Ajmal Mayar, who was a former office-bearer of PkSF and was currently the president of the employees union of the university, Sabirullah Mayar and another activist of PkSF, Asad Katlang, had made the plan one month before the incident to eliminate Mashal Khan.

Ajmal Mayar and Sabirullah Mayar are said to be close relatives of ANP district president and District Nazim Mardan Himayatullah Mayar, who also remained the provincial president of PkSF and has great influence on the student organisation of the party in the district.

Meanwhile, a former deputy speaker of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Ikramullah Shahid has termed the report of the joint investigation team (JIT) on the Mashal Khan lynching incident as partial, unjust and unfair.

Talking to reporters here on Monday, he said the JIT report had created unrest among the people, claiming the members of the probing team had misused their powers. Ikramullah Shahid claimed that no one at the Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan had enmity with Mashal Khan, saying the JIT had failed to shed light on the real situation.

He recalled that a delegation of religious and political parties had presented all documents to the DIG and DPO of Mardan about the alleged activities of Mashal Khan on Facebook, but nothing was mentioned in the JIT report in this regard.

Ikramullah Shahid further claimed that the JIT had violated its mandate, saying the court of law was supposed to decide the case in accordance with the law. He appealed to the Chief Justice of Pakistan to reject the JIT report and order a judicial inquiry into the tragedy.