Daily Times

SWABI: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on Tuesday said that those responsible for Mashal Khan’s murder will be given exemplary punishment.

“Mashal Khan did not commit blasphemy, it has been confirmed. There was a conspiracy against him,” Imran said during a press conference alongside Mashal’s grieving father Iqbal Khan.

“No matter which party the suspects belong to, they will be punished,” he assured, adding that investigation is underway to arrest those responsible for the murder. “We will make sure those involved in the murder and those who conspired against Mashal will be held accountable and it will become an example in Pakistan.

“As a father, I can understand the pain of Mashal’s parents,” he said, “Those involved in the killing and the conspiracy need to be exposed.”

“Mashal was killed on the pretext and under the garb of blasphemy,” Imran added.

The PTI chief said that the entire country saw what the university students did with Mashal. “Even animals don’t behave this way,” he said. “I will ensure justice for Mashal’s death.

It is commendable that people across Pakistan, regardless of their religious or political background, have demanded the accused to be punished.

Mashal, a student of journalism and mass communication at the Abdul Wali Khan University (AWKU), was shot in the head and chest and then his body desecrated by a mob who accused him of committing blasphemy. The video of the gruesome violence, made via mobile phone cameras, shows Mashal’s disrobed body – covered in blood – being dragged in a hallway, then on a road of the campus. It also shows students attacking the policemen who tried to intervene.