NA passes resolution condemning Mashal Khan’s ‘barbaric, cold blooded’ murder

Demands federal, provincial governments to take strict action against perpetrators, facilitators of heinous crime

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly on Tuesday passed a unanimous resolution to condemn last week’s “barbaric and cold-blooded murder” of a university student in Mardan over alleged blasphemy.

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 campus on April 13.



“This House unanimously condemns the barbaric and cold-blooded murder of Mashal Khan and resolves to ensure that strong safeguards may be inserted into the blasphemy law to prevent its abuse through such atrocities in the future, including by mobs involved in such crimes,” the resolution said. Federal Minister for Defence Production Rana Tanveer presented the resolution.

The resolution demanded the federal and provincial governments to take strict action against the ‘perpetrators’ and ‘facilitators’ of the heinous crime, including those making hate speeches.



“This House condemns all those who take the law into their own hands and engage in vigilantism, resulting in loss of innocent human lives,” it read.

Earlier, the opposition lawmakers had demanded of the government to move a resolution in the lower house of Parliament against the misuse of the blasphemy law and asked the government to amend the law by inserting clauses in the existing law to avoid its misuse.

The Supreme Court of Pakistan has already taken notice of the incident while a judicial inquiry has also been ordered into the incident.