In a surprising turn of events, one the proclaimed absconders in the Mashal Khan murder case has surrendered to the police. Sabir Mayar was the president of the Pakhtun Students Federation (PSF) at Abdul Wali Khan University (AWKU) and is suspected of being the mastermind of the lynching that was ‘sanctioned’ on trumped up blasphemy charges. Presently, only one suspect and offender remains at large. That it was Mayar himself who turned himself in raises important questions as to the authorities’ seriousness in bringing all those involved to book. For his part, Mayar seemingly wishes to clear his name. He has been quoted as telling the police that the university administration levelled false allegations against him. In short, he has stressed that he and Mashal were on the same page intellectually when it came to speaking out against AWKU administrative practices. If this is true, it begs the following question: why did he spend the last 11 months on the run? Who was he afraid of? Yet even without answers to the above, there can be no escaping the fact that the entire process of securing posthumous justice for Mashal has been problematic from the start. Indeed, following the conviction of several defendants by an anti-terrorism court — the Supreme Court last month disposed of the case. And then there is not the un-small matter of half the suspects being acquitted due to insubstantial evidence; despite extensive video footage of the murder. This is not mention that those who were handed down shockingly short custodial terms of just three years were subsequently released on bail. Nevertheless, it is a credit to the KP government that not only has it already filed an appeal against the aforementioned acquittals — but also that a primary suspect and former PTI tehsil councillor, Arif Khan, was arrested earlier this month. Nevertheless, the brutal murder of Mashal Khan was supposed to be a watershed moment for Pakistan in the ongoing battle between progressive forces and an increasingly powerful religious right. Sadly, as things stand today, the latter appears to be prevailing. * Published in Daily Times, March 20th 2018.