Lynching suspect accuses varsity official of ‘conspiring’ against Mashal

Wajahatullah also alleged that university administration had asked him to testify against Mashal

PESHAWAR: Fresh details of Thursday’s harrowing lynching of a student at a university in Mardan point to possible involvement of the varsity administration in the sickening episode that has sparked a nationwide outrage.

Mashal Khan, a 23-year-old student of journalism and mass communication at Abdul Wali Khan University, was shot and beaten to death by a mob of fellow students on the campus on April 13. The Supreme Court has already taken notice, while a judicial inquiry has also been ordered into the incident.

A suspect, who has been in police custody for the past three days over the lynching allegations, claimed on Monday that he had been asked by the administration to testify that Mashal had blasphemous ideas.



While recording his statement in the court of judicial magistrate, in Mardan, Wajahatullah also alleged that Mashal had anti-Islamic views since start while Abdullah and Zubair followed him. A copy of the statement is available with The Express Tribune.

“On April 13 Mudasir Bashir called me and told me to come to the university and to meet him at the chairman’s office. I proceeded to the chairman office where some 15-20 people, including administration officials, were present. The administration had convened the meeting to decide the case of Mashal, and Mudasir Bashir called me to be witness over the blasphemous ideas of Mashal,” said Wajahatullah in his statement.

He alleged that the security in-charge of the university, Bilal Bakhsh, had said those who stepped forward to protect Mashal and his supporters would be dealt with ‘an iron hand’.

According to Wajahatullah, Bakhsh further said that he would kill Mashal. “Hearing this, the congress turned into a violent mob and rushed towards the hostel,” recalled Wajahatullah.

He went on to add that if he had known what the administration was conspiring against Mashal, he would have never come to the university on that day.