Daily Times

MARDAN: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Tehsil Councillor Arif Mardanvi has been sent to jail on a 14-day judicial remand over his involvement in the lynching of Mashal Khan.

Arif Mardanvi, who was arrested from near Chamtar on Ring Road on March 8, appeared before the court of Senior Civil Judge Asim Riaz on Monday.

During the court proceedings, the accused pleaded not guilty to the charges against him.

The suspect was brought to the court amidst strict security, according to police. Mardanvi was among the three accused of Mashal’s murder.

Mashal was brutally beaten and shot dead at the Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan over allegations of blasphemy in April 2017. The allegations were later proved to be false by a joint investigation team.

Last week, Iqbal Khan, father of Mashal Khan, had said that the verdict in the case by an anti-terrorism court in Haripur was announced in the absence of the complainant’s family and lawyers.

During a press conference in Peshawar, Iqbal reiterated his reservation over the acquittal of 26 accused, saying it was not right to show leniency towards people charged with terrorism.

While speaking about the arrest of prime accused Mohammad Arif from Mardan a day earlier, Mashal’s father said the arrest was deliberately delayed. Iqbal implied that the accused was arrested nearly after a year just so that strict punishment was not imposed on him. Iqbal demanded the Supreme Court to take suo motu action on his son’s lynching case once more, after the hearing on it was concluded by the apex court recently.

The bereaved father also spoke about the role of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government in the case, alleging they did provide the family with a lawyer but had not paid his fees yet.

He requested the provincial government to play an effective role and said they had requested the Supreme Court for five lawyers to take the case forward.

Published in Daily Times, March 13^th 2018.