Still seeking justice

We all know who murdered Mashal Khan. His lynching was captured on video and most of those party to it were quickly identified. Yet in the five months since he was killed, little progress has been made in bringing the perpetrators to justice. It has taken this long just to indict 57 people – the first stage in what will likely be a long trial. In these five months, the police are yet to track down three missing suspects – PTI tehsil councillor Arif Khan and Pakhtun Students Federation activists Sabirullah Mayar and Asad Katlang. The involvement of members of the student wings of the ANP and to some extent the PTI – which is also in power in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa – has been an impediment to the cause of justice. It is possible that the absconders have been able to evade law enforcement with help from their powerful friends. Members of both parties also rejected the Joint Investigation Team report which proved beyond any doubt that all those who have now been indicted – and many other people besides – contributed to the lynching of Mashal Khan. Given that the JIT showed how Mashal’s murder was pre-meditated and that the conspiracy involved university officials and student groups, with the police acting as an uninterested bystander, there was always very little change of justice in Mardan. On Mashal’s father’s request, the case was moved and is being conducted in Central Jail Haripur by a judge of the ATC Abbottabad.

Even then, there is reason to doubt that justice will be done. There have been reports that pressure is already being placed on Mashal’s father Iqbal to forgive his son’s killers, and that two jirgas have been formed by local elders and religious figures and they are seeking to persuade Iqbal to come to an understanding. Given how much power is wielded by those who murdered Mashal, the pressure is not likely to be very subtle. All along, the state has given the impression that it just wishes the case will go away. So far Iqbal has held firm but he is struggling financially and has asked the Peshawar High Court to pay his legal fees. He also still feels his family is threatened and so has not sent his daughters to school since Mashal was killed. One way the government could ensure justice is done is by making itself a complainant in the case. Then, even if Iqbal is browbeaten into forgiving Mashal’s killers, the case itself can go ahead. Those responsible need to be punished not just so that Mashal’s family can receive justice but so that the rest of us can be reassured that mere accusations do not give a person carte blanche to lynch and murder. The law must not let yet another act of barbaric cruelty remain unpunished.