Mashal’s father seeks family relocation to Islamabad

Asks SC for residence for family in Islamabad and admission for daughters

ISLAMABAD: Mashal Khan’s father moved an application in the Supreme Court on Wednesday, seeking directives for the government to relocate his family to Islamabad in view of alleged security threats to him and his daughters in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, particularly in his hometown Swabi.

Muhammad Iqbal Khan has, through his counsel Khawaja Azhar Rasheed, requested the top court to direct the government to provide residence for his family in Islamabad on a rental basis as well as admission for his daughters to the capital’s colleges.



Iqbal’s application says that since Mashal's murder, his daughters "have not been able to pursue their studies for obvious security concerns", adding, "The education of the two daughters has become impossible in Swabi or anywhere in K-P. There is an urgent need for the two being shifted to Islamabad."

He claimed that it had become ‘very difficult’ for his elder son -- a civilian clerk in the Pakistan Air Force -- to continue working at his post, adding that once he shifted to Islamabad to "oversee the education of his daughters", he would leave to his son his small business to run.

Iqbal had previously asked the apex court to provide protection to his daughters, who, he claimed, were scared of going to school after Mashal Khan’s murder on April 13.



"My kids have never missed school or college. But since Mashal Khan’s incident, my daughters have not been to school or university. So I have asked the court to provide protection for my daughters," he had written in his previous request.

Mashal was lynched by an angry mob on April 13 at Mardan’s Abdul Wali Khan University over allegations of blasphemy. However, a joint investigation team later cleared him of the charge and declared his murder premeditated