Student body vows to fight religious extremism on Mashal’s death anniversary

The Progressive Students Federation Karachi (PRSF) and various civil society groups on Saturday commemorated the second death anniversary of Mashal Khan, a 23-year-old student who was lynched in Mardan by his fellow students for not conforming to their ideas, by holding a march and announcing a campaign against growing religious fundamentalism among students and academia.

The participants of Mashal March walked from the Arts Council of Pakistan to the Karachi Press Club. They chanted slogans against extremism and expressed sorrow for the slain Khalid Hameed, an associate professor who was killed by his student at Sadiq Egerton College in southern Punjab.

The PRSF and civil society speakers said Mashal Khan was just 23 years old when he was lynched on April 13, 2017 by a violent group of students and outsiders because of his unconventional opinions. It was the darkest day in the history of academia in Pakistan, they said, adding that it was the day when a young, bright and progressive student was tortured to death by his very own class fellows.

The speakers said with the Mashal March, they were starting a campaign to voice concerns over the growing extremism in students and collectively say no to the hateful curricula and fundamentalism being taught and propagated in the academic places of the country.

The PRSF presented some demands and resolved to continue their struggle until their fulfilment. It was demanded that the brutal murder of Mashal and Hameed be termed a national tragedy. The student organisation also demanded that the authorities lift the ban on student unions in order to put the students’ politics on the right path.

The speakers were of the view that the freedom of expression and speech on campus should be encouraged. The state institutions should not have the right to intervene in the varsities’ curricula or dictate what should or should not be discussed, they said.

Calling the militarisation of students unacceptable, they demanded complete elimination of extremism and hatred-inciting themes in the curricula. They called for upgrading the curricula according to global standards and putting a stop to the propagation of hate speech, religious extremism and physical violence.

Those who propagate hatred and religious extremism on campus should be given the maximum punishment allowed in the varsities’ rules, they said.