Mashal murder case: PHC orders transfer of case to ATC Peshawar

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Monday ordered transfer of the trial of four accused in the Mashal Khan murder case from Mardan to the Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) in Peshawar.

A single bench headed by Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth allowed the writ petition after the provincial government didn't raise any objection to it. The ATC Peshawar-III would conduct trial of the four accused including Arif Khan, Izharullah aka Jooni, Sabir Mayar and Asad Katlang.

The bench was hearing an application filed by Muhammad Iqbal, Mashal Khan's father, to transfer the trial of the four arrested persons including the main accused Arif Khan, a tehsil councillor affiliated to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), from the Anti-Terrorism Court in Mardan to Peshawar.

Mohammad Iqbal said in the application that he and his lawyers cannot appear in the case in Mardan due to security reasons. Barrister Ameerullah Khan Chamkani submitted before the court that Muhammad Iqbal and his counsels cannot appear in Mardan for the hearing of the case due to sensitivity of the case and security reasons. The victim's family had also argued that the accused belonged to Mardan and they had security concerns visiting the city for hearing of the case at the court.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Home Department's Deputy Legal Director Ateequr Rahman submitted before the bench that the department had no objection to the transfer of the case. However, the counsel for an accused objected to the transfer of the case and said it should be transferred to Abbottabad ATC that conducted the trial of 57 persons in the case.

The bench, however, allowed the application and ordered transfer of the case to ATC Peshawar-III and fixed June 21 for hearing. Mashal Khan, a student of the journalism department at the Abdul Wali Khan University in Mardan, was lynched at the university campus by a mob that included students, employees and even outsiders on suspicion that he had committed blasphemy.