MARDAN/SWABI: The Mardan police on Friday arrested 10 people on the charge of involvement in the lynching of a journalism student of the Abdul Wali Khan University over blasphemy charges.

Also in the day, Mashal Khan was laid to rest in native Zaida village of Swabi district.

A mob consisting of hundreds of university students had killed the student on campus on Thursday by lynching over the allegations of blasphemy triggering a nationwide uproar.

An official of Mardan’s Sheikh Maltun police station said two FIRs of the lynching incident had been registered.

He said 20 people, including four officials and 16 Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan students, were named in the FIRs, while 10 of them had been taken into custody.

Mardan varsity forms panel to find out motives behind killing, probe blasphemy charges against two other students

The official said the suspects were identified through video footage of the incident, while the police had formed three teams to arrest the other suspects.

When contacted, Mardan DSP Ikhtiraz Khan confirmed the registration of FIRs, one about the lynching and other about the unidentified protesters interfering in the affairs of the state, blocking the university’s main routes and gates, and ransacking the campus.

The AWKU provost told Dawn that the university had formed a committee first to find out the ‘real causes and motives’ behind the killing of the student and second to ascertain if two other students were involved in the blasphemy or not.

He said the inquiry committee comprised Dr Jahanzeb Khan Khalil as convener and Journalism and Mass Communication Department chairman Sheraz Paracha, Pir Asfandyar, Mohammad Idrees and Fayaz Ali Shah as members.

Meanwhile, the funeral prayer for the student was offered at Eidgah of Zaida village in the morning with scores of people, including the relatives and friends of the deceased, in attendance.

However, the university students or staff members didn’t show up.

The Kalu Khan police station squad received the body in the early hours of the day before transporting it to Zaida village for burial.

Father of the deceased, Mohammad Iqbal, demanded a detailed investigation by the government’s institutions into the incident and dispensation of justice to his family.

After passing higher secondary school certificate examination, the deceased went to Russia to get engineering education but returned after failing to ‘adjust’ himself there.

He later got admission in the AWKU.

Recently, the deceased spoke in Mashal Radio Pashto’s programme, ‘Da Zwananoo Narry’ (the world of youngsters), which was re-telecasted on Friday.

In the programme, he urged youths to read books and said whenever he read Plato, he felt as if the ancient Athenian philosopher was sitting in front of him. He also read Karl Marx and other philosophers of the world.

Mr Iqbal, a worker of the Awami National Party and Pashto poet, told Dawn that he had two sons and two daughters.

He said his elder daughter got 969 marks in the SCC examination, while the second one didn’t take her practical examination on Friday due to the brother’s killing.

The man said his elder son was well qualified.

He said he couldn’t believe that his son had committed any act of blasphemy and that he was ‘victimized’.

“Ask my neighbors about how I groomed my children, how they live and how they interacted with the people. The life of ours life is like an open book,” he said.

He added, “they killed my Mashal and I want justice from the authorities and institutions.”

Friends and neighbours of the deceased said Mashal often complained about the country’s political system but he had never said anything against religion.

They said the deceased used to remain silent most of the time but whenever he spoke, his points were solid and based on knowledge.

Published in Dawn, April 15th, 2017