College principal killed by student over blasphemy laid to rest in Charsadda

CHARSADDA: Slain college principal Sareer Ahmed, who was gunned down by his student on the pretext of blasphemy, was laid to rest in Charsadda on Tuesday.

A grade 12 student, Faheem, of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Islamia College in Shabqadar on Monday gunned down the college principal.

Police said that the student got disgruntled after the principal had expressed his anger at Faheem over his absence from college for three days due to latter’s reported participation in Faizabad sit-in.

FC personnel arrested the accused and handed him over to police. The Charsadda district court on Tuesday remanded the criminal to police custody for three days on Monday. After a short hearing, Judicial Magistrate-I Attaullah Jan handed his custody to the police.

In November, daily life in the capital had been paralysed for at least three weeks due to the protest of an alliance of religious parties, including the Tehreek-e-Khatm-e-Nabuwwat, Tehreek Labaik Ya Rasool Allah (TLY) and Sunni Tehreek Pakistan, calling for the sacking of then law minister Zahid Hamid and strict action against those behind the amendment to the Khatam-e-Nabuwwat clause ─ which had earlier been deemed a “clerical error” and subsequently rectified.

The protest was finally ended when the government had succumbed to the demands of the violent protesters and had agreed to remove then law minister Zahid Hamid.

In a video that the media was able to get its hands on, the student while being arrested defended himself saying he believed the college principal had committed blasphemy.

“I have been taught… to kill… to not be afraid. Don’t be afraid of disrespecting the one who [commits blasphemy],” the student says in Pushto. “You can kill me,” he is further seen telling the arresting officers in the video.

Media sources report that Faheem had been angry at being marked absent for the days he was skipping classes to attend the Faizabad sit-in.

Blasphemy is a highly sensitive topic in Pakistan, where more than often unproven allegations have stirred up mob violence and lynchings.

Last year, a mob in Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan beat up a student, Mashal Khan, to death after accusing him of blasphemy over social media.

The incident caused an outrage across the country, with calls for the blasphemy law to be amended. The investigation into Mashal’s murder was concluded after a joint investigation team probing the case cleared the victim of all charges.

At least 65 people have been murdered by vigilantes over blasphemy allegations since 1990.