Annual youth convention: Students vow to add voice to Mashal’s struggle

Activists claim student was murdered through propaganda

LAHORE: Students from all over the country paid rich tributes to slain activist Mashal Khan at a convention in Lahore on Saturday and vowed to fulfil his mission of student empowerment.

Mashal, a student of Abdul Wali Khan University (AWKU), was lynched by a mob last week on accusations of blasphemy in the presence of law enforcement organisations.

At the Youth Convention Lahore on Saturday at the Alhamra Arts Council, student activists claimed Mashal had become a voice for progressive university students and that was the reason he was targeted by the university administration through propaganda.

Speakers at the event, organised by the Progressive Youth Alliance, said Mashal’s struggle had become a beacon of hope for students of the country.

On the pretext of security, they said educational institutions had been converted into prisons and those who raise their voice are targeted.

PYA Lahore’s Zainul Abideen said Mashal was fighting for the rights of students. “He was killed because he raised his voice against the rise in fee and corruption of AWKU administration,” he said, blaming security and law enforcement agencies as well as the university officials for his murder.

“They used retrogressive student organisations for his lynching. Universities throughout Pakistan have failed in providing basic fundamental rights and facilities to students like standard education, hostel facilities, transport and affordable fees. They are using violence to suppress them instead,” Zain alleged.

Poet Abid Hussain Abid said the pretext of religion and nationalism had always been used to curb progressive voices and justify action against those fighting for their rights.

Sher Razai, a student of University of Engineering and Technology, said many policemen and guards were deployed at universities in the name of providing security. “Where were they when Mashal was being murdered and his body desecrated for three hours?” he asked. “These deployments are meant to curb dissenting voices, not providing them security.”

Published in The Express Tribune, April 23^rd, 2017.