Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The father of Mashal Khan – the Mardan university student who was lynched by a mob on allegations of blasphemy – on Wednesday moved the Supreme Court of Pakistan for the safety of his daughters.

In April, Mashal Khan, a journalism student of Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan (AWKUM) was stoned to death by the varsity’s students and employees who had accused him of committing blasphemy on the social media.

After the incident, the chief justice of Pakistan took suo motu notice of the incident and a 13-member Joint Investigation Team (JIT) was formed to probe the matter.

The JIT in its findings had stated that a group in the varsity incited a mob against Mashal on the pretext of blasphemy but no proof was found that Khan had committed blasphemy.

The KP Police are yet to submit the JIT report before the top court in the suo motu case. However Muhammad Iqbal Khan, father of Mashal, moved an application for admission of Mashal’s sisters in education institutions and provision of small quarter for residence in Islamabad.

“Since the murder of Mashal Khan, the applicant’s daughters have not been able to pursue their studies for obvious security reasons,” the application stated.

The father of the deceased claimed that his elder daughter had done her intermediate in pre-medical group securing 969 marks out of 1,100 marks.

He added that the younger daughter had taken the 9th grade examination and was waiting for results.

“The education of two daughters has become impossible in Swabi or anywhere in KP. There is an urgent need of the two to be shifted to Islamabad,” the father pleaded.

Iqbal Khan said that he would also be moving to Islamabad but due to limited financial resources he would not be able to afford accommodation on his own.

He requested the top court for providing a small government quarter on rent so that he could shift to Islamabad.

He further requested the top court for admission of his elder daughter in any medical college in Islamabad or Rawalpindi.

The application mentioned that Mashal’s elder brother namely Aimal Khan was serving as a civilian clerk with the Pakistan Air Force.

However, it added that after the incident, his continuation in the job had also become very difficult and he was quitting the job due to difficulties and would run his father’s small family business.