LONDON: Mashaal Khan’s father on Saturday said that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) has failed to fulfil a single promise made to him after the brutal murder of his son.
He said this while delivering the annual Bacha Khan Lecture at the Brunei Gallery of the London University’s School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS). Nobel Prize winner Malala Yousufzai’s father, Ziauddin Yousufzai, was also present with him on the stage.
While speaking to the media, Muhammad Iqbal, also known as Iqbal Lala, said that he himself is now paying for the security that was provided by the KP government after the murder of his son.
He lamented that his son wasn’t a security threat, yet was murdered in broad daylight and the KP government has not been able to do anything about it. Iqbal said that being a self- respecting individual he cannot run after government officials, begging them to fulfil their promises.
Lala said that the extremists will be defeated only with a united stand against them and in no other manner. He said that his son greatly believed in the “Last Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him)’s last sermon in which He declared that it’s not your colour or origin or belonging that makes you great but your ideology, character and your faith.”
Addressing the gathering, Ziauddin Yousufzai said that they both are known by their children. “I am Malala’s father, Iqbal Lala is Mashal’s father,” he said.
Yousafzai continued that Iqbal named all of his children after historical Pahsutun progressive figures that stood up for human rights, education and equality, adding that Iqbal had four children but now is left with only three due to Mashal’s unfortunate demise.
“He is the bravest Pashtun that I have ever seen. He is standing up for every Malala and every Mashal of Pakistan,” concluded Yousafzai.