By Salma Ahmed
Mashal Khan died when his skull was smashed to ground by his fellows with bricks and cricket bats in his University premises in Mardan.
He was murdered because he used to ask questions about social fabrics, about religion, about history and about malpractices within Khan Abdul Wali Khan University that is after the name of secular icon of Sarhad (read as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa).
Initial investigations into his death indicate that his assassination was a planned conspiracy hatched allegedly by his university fellows and university administration. He was tagged as “blasphemous” and his head was smashed to ground.
He was victim of our system where mob can decide the fate of anybody. Investigations have confirmed that he had never been involved in any blasphemous act.
Mufti Naeem who is one of the most honoured scholars in Pakistan has called him a “martyr” (Shaheed) after his brutal death.
Every sensitive person of society irrespective of social and religious background is shocked and feels pain for his family. However, his character assassination is yet not finished even after his physical assassination.
I read a story titled “Mashal Khan posted some controversial content on social media” in Islamabad edition of daily The News (Islamabad hardcopy edition) dated April 22, 2017. Interestingly this controversial news is not available on e-paper (Islamabad edition dated April 22, 2017).
Writer tries to build a case against deceased Mashal Khan and claimed that deceased posted controversial material on social media during February 8 to 10. However he did not cite, did not explain, did not mention and did not provide screen shots of what kind of “controversial content” it was?
This story having no “controversial content” or screen shots looks like an attempt to cool down the issue or to save people behind his murder. There is possibility that writer has some screen shots of such controversial content but newspaper did not publish these screen shots with this story. If this is not the case and writer has no such screen shots, then the issue is grave.
When I contacted former Editor of News on Sunday and Op-ed Editor for The News International Beena Sarwar to comment on this story, she said:
Ridiculous basis for a report—says that the controversial posts were between Feb 8 and 10. These two days mentioned are being used to create doubts about him.
We as society –all of us killed Mashal Khan and killed with extreme brutality. Can we let him rest in peace now?
Disclaimer:
The views and opinions expressed in this article/Opinion/Comment are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Dispatch News Desk (DND). Assumptions made within the analysis are not reflective of the position of Dispatch News Desk.
