MARDAN: The family of Mashal Khan, a student of Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan who was lynched by an angry mob in the university’s premises over false allegations of posting blasphemous content online, celebrated his birthday on Tuesday.
On February 7, an anti-terrorism court in Haripur announced its verdict in the lynching case, handing one person death sentence, five life imprisonments, 25 others to three years in jail, and acquitting 26 others.
Brother of Mashal Khan, Aman Aimal Mashal, posted a video on Facebook in which Mashal’s father Iqbal Khan and mother Syeda Bibi could be seen cutting a cake. The pictures of Mashal’s grave lighted with candles were also posted on the social media.
Aman wrote: “We are not celebrating but ensuring that we still feel you are among us. You are alive for us. We all love you very much.”
Khan completed his college in the Institute of Computer and Management Sciences on a scholarship and received good marks.
He then received a scholarship to study at a university in Russia where he studied engineering for one year. He then returned to Pakistan without completing his studies due to the family’s limited financial resources. Upon returning to Pakistan, he enrolled in the department of journalism at Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan where he was planning to do a Master’s in Mass Media and Journalism while preparing for his civil services exams.
His father told a media outlet that “Mashal was devoted to his studies and would study for 15 hours a day. He believed education was essential for a full life and encouraged his brothers and sister to study as well. His father added that Mashal was a “peaceful, tolerant person” and that he wrote poetry in Pashto. Khan had one brother and two sisters and was 23 years old at the time of his murder.
Mashal’s teacher told a local media outlet that “Mashal was a humanist, he was into socialism and Sufism”. A teacher described Khan as an engaged and thoughtful student. “He was brilliant and inquisitive, always complaining about the political system of the country, but I never heard him saying anything controversial against the religion.”