Shifting of Mashal case from Mardan: PHC seeks legal help of advocate general

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Wednesday sought the legal assistance of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa advocate general in a writ petition seeking the transfer of the case of Mashal Khan’s lynching from anti-terrorism court, Mardan, to Haripur or another district.

A two-member bench comprising Chief Justice Yahya Afridi and Justice Abdul Shakoor issued notice to the advocate general to appear in person today in the court and assist it on the legal position of the case to be transferred from one anti-terrorism court (ATC) to another due to security problems.

Mashal Khan, a 23-year-old student of Journalism and Mass Communication Department at the Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan, was lynched by a mob, including students, university employees and outsiders at the campus on April 13 on the suspicion that he had committed blasphemy.

Mohammad Iqbal, father of Mashal Khan, has filed the writ petition through his lawyer Abdul Latif Afridi under Section 28 of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997, which empowers the court to transfer a case from one ATC to another if it is in the interest of justice.

The petition stated that the open trial in the matter of a very sensitive nature is not possible and, therefore, it should be conducted inside the jail.Mashal Khan’s father submitted that a number of accused, witnesses and lawyers were involved in the case and, therefore, the trial would last for many months.

He submitted that most of the accused belonged to Mardan and the prevailing atmosphere in the district was not congenial to outsiders seeking trial in the case. The court was also informed that even lawyers in Mardan have refused to represent Mashal Khan in the case.

Mohammad Iqbal also submitted in the petition that on his son’s ‘chehlum’ in Swabi the accused wanted to hold a musical programme in Mardan and therefore, under such circumstances, the trial in Mardan couldn’t proceed fairly and freely. He requested the high court to transfer the case to the ATC in Haripur or other appropriate place in the province and order the holding of the trial inside the respective central prison.

He insisted that in a bid to cover up the real motive behind Mashal Khan’s killing, the deceased was accused of having committed blasphemy.“The blasphemy charge was not proved in the JIT investigation,” he said, adding that the allegation turned the case into a sensitive one.

Mohammad Iqbal said that those behind Mashal Khan’s killing had many friends and sympathisers, including the Muttahida Deeni Mahaz, an alliance of religious parties and clerics who had declared his son’s killers as ‘ghazis’.

He further submitted that due to the peculiar facts and circumstances of the case, he as father of the deceased was not in position to pursue the case in Mardan and therefore the court may transfer it to ATC in Haripur or some other district that it deems appropriate for the trial.