Daily Times

PESHAWAR: Mardan police opened a hate speech investigation involving two Muslim clerics on Sunday after the killing of a university student over blasphemy allegations.

The clerics are accused of attempting to disrupt the funeral of student Mashal Khan, who was beaten to death by fellow students after a dorm debate was followed by accusations of blasphemy being spread across Wali Khan University, Mardan.

University officials had issued public notification hours before the murder naming three students being investigated for “blasphemous activities”.

Mardan police chief Alam Shinwari said 20 people had been identified as culpable in the killing on the basis of videos taken during the attack, and 15 had been arrested. He said they would be tried by anti-terrorism courts.

Police say they are also investigating the clerics in Khan’s hometown of Swabi, some 60 kilometers south of Mardan, for attempting to disrupt funeral prayers and instigate hatred against the dead student’s family.

“The two clerics … [used] the mosque loudspeaker for hate speech against the slain student and his family and … created hurdles for the people and another cleric to participate in the funeral,” a senior Swabi police official said on condition of anonymity.

A local cleric had refused to lead the funeral proceedings at Mashal Khan’s funeral on Friday, according to Swabi resident Salman Ahmed. A technician who was asked to do so in the cleric’s place was confronted by several people afterwards.

Mardan police said that the suspects were present before an anti-terrorism court on Saturday which gave one-day physical remand.

Meanwhile, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Inspector General Salahuddin Khan Mehsud chaired a high-level meeting in Mardan where Mardan DIG Muhammad Alam Shinwari and other top officials critically analysed the murder case.

The DIG informed the IG that several suspects have been arrested and police were trying to provide justice to the aggrieved family.

Mehsud praised the Mardan police and said the investigation of the case is moving in the right direction.

Mehsud directed the Mardan police to immediately arrest all the accused nominated in the first information report (FIR). The RPO and DPO briefed the police chief about the incident. The officials told Mehsud that a majority of the nominated accused in the FIR were arrested and speedy development is occurred in the case. “Except few accused and question all the investigations are clear adding that 2 more accused had been arrested on Sunday and this bring the arrest accused number to 15,” the officials added.