PTI move to offer Fateha for Mashal Khan shot down in Mardan district assembly

Councillors from ANP, JUI-F, other parties tell PTI to wait for investigation to complete

MARDAN: Members from the ANP and JUI-F in the district assembly shot down a PTI move to offer Fateha for Mashal Khan, a university student who was brutally lynched by fellow students on blasphemy charges earlier this month.

Convener Asad Ali was officiating proceedings when PTI member Dr Hafizur Wahab tabled a resolution calling upon the house to offer Fatiha (prayers) for the departed soul of Mashal Khan. However, councillors of the ANP, JUI-F, and some other parties opposed the move. They advised the PTI member to wait for the investigation to complete before tabling such a resolution.



The district assembly session was marred by acrimonious exchanges between members as Dr Hafizur Wahab accused fellow members from the ANP and PPP of favoritism and cronyism in appointments at Abdul Wali Khan University, Mardan, which, according to him, led to the brutal lynching of Mashal.

In a related development, the Muttahida Deeni Mahaz rejected a proposal of PTI Chairman Imran Khan to rename the university after Mashal Khan.

“We also demand that the district police officer allow parents to meet their arrested children in jail,” Maulana Dr Attaur Rehman said in a statement after a meeting of the Muttahida Deeni Mahaz.