Remember the killing of Farkhunda Malikzada? She was brutally murdered by a mob on false charges of blasphemy. That was in Afghanistan and happened exactly two years ago.
Now something similar has happened in Pakistan, the wonderful country in the eyes of a select group of Indian liberals.
A 23-year-old university student was brutally killed by other students of his university on charges of blasphemy.
Mashal Khan was a student of Abdul Wali Khan University in Mardan in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
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The incident happened at Abdul Wali Khan University in Mardan in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
Mashal Khan Yusufzai was a student of journalism. He was quite active on social media and often posted messages of tolerance, secularism and feminism. He was also strictly anti-Mullahs.
This, perhaps, did not go down well with the Islamists who thrive in almost every nook and corner of the country and are even backed by the establishment.
A huge group of students, around 4000 as per Pakistani media mouthpieces, targeted Mashal inside the university campus on Thursday.
They accused him of committing blasphemy, a very sensitive subject in the Islamic Republic. According to the police, Mashal was accused by the mob of “publishing blasphemous content online”. According to eyewitnesses, he was accused of promoting the Ahmadi faith.
Anyway, the mob dragged him out of the building, stripped him naked, repeatedly beat him up and shot him. They kept hitting his dead body with stones, wooden planks or anything they could get their hands on.
While blasphemy is punishable by death in Pakistan, Ahmadi Muslims are persecuted under law.
Mashal was buried in his ancestral village on Friday. Twitter
As is usual in Pakistan, there was no evidence to even remotely suggest that Mashal had committed blasphemy. Like it happens in the Islamic Republic, where terrorists and fundamentalists find safe haven, the mob had done what it wanted to do – kill. And as is normal in such situations, there is very high chance that not one member of the mob will be punished.
But wait till you see how Mashal was killed. The level of brutality displayed by bloodthirsty fundamentalists will put Hitler to shame. And remember these are students, and students are the future of a country.
Here is another one:
Another video of the lynching of #MashalKhan by a huge #Muslim mob at a university after accusing him of blasphemy pic.twitter.com/li9zfERgAD
— Durruti Column (@DurrutiLive1) April 13, 2017
If this is how students react to blasphemy, it can now be safely assumed that Pakistan is a failed state.
Yes, there are sane voices from within Pakistan that are condemning Mashal’s killing but they are few and powerless before a de facto military-controlled state, which breeds terrorists to attack neighbors.
Back in Dec 2016 #MashalKhan had posted about a fake id trying to defame him. But we dont train our youth to think https://t.co/z0SOw0vIy7 pic.twitter.com/qrVqn5p5By
— M. Jibran Nasir (@MJibranNasir) April 14, 2017
No case filed. No police investigation. When young human beings turn into murderers because of a rumour #MashalKhan https://t.co/jjlbjUTBFS
— Saima Mohsin (@SaimaMohsin) April 14, 2017
If only we had condemned and shown zero tolerance on Salman Taseers blasphemy case, #MashalKhan whould be still alive!
— Batool Janjua (@BatoolJanjua) April 14, 2017
I don’t know what is more blasphemous, saying something against God or playing the God yourself. #Mardan #MashalKhan
— Danish Zaidi (@syedmdz) April 14, 2017
Pity the nation that glorifies the murderers & afraid to condemn them! Youth lynched by educated &civilized savage barbarians! #MashalKhan 💔
— S Malaika Raza (@MalaikaSRaza) April 13, 2017
You deserved a better place far far away from this wankers land #RIP #MashalKhan pic.twitter.com/CsR6IJyZSC
— Controversial Rana (@RmShazib) April 13, 2017
The State has the obligation to protect its citizens.Sadly the State & its machinery failed to protect #MashalKhan at AWK Uty #Mardan.
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Top Most Characters of Mahabharata— Abdul Majeed Khan (@koolkopper) April 14, 2017
If u will forget #MashalKhan in a week/two & wont force state to take actions against such crimes then u the people are equally responsible
— Farheen Rizvi (@FarriRizvi) April 13, 2017
Pakistani Lynch Mob yells ‘Allah-O-Akbar’ as it kills #MashalKhan accused of Islamophobia – WARNING: Graphic Images https://t.co/T2gm2UzOFv
— Tarek Fatah (@TarekFatah) April 13, 2017
Alas! What a gem u fools have killed. No surprise why you grow Fazlullahs and Mullah Umars #MashalKhan https://t.co/qqjsdCNh7V
— Sohaib Baluch (@Sohaib_Baluch) April 14, 2017
Horrendous. When mobs become judge and jury – the murder of young #MashalKhan who called himself #TheHumanist
— Saima Mohsin (@SaimaMohsin) April 13, 2017
Need to hang ALL the inherent assholes who were involved in the brutality.#MashalKhan https://t.co/mNj2E7JQmU
— Daniyal Ali (@DaniyyalAli) April 14, 2017
The problem with Pakistan is two-fold: One, it is the world’s first and only nuclear-powered Islamic Republic, and, two, the government allows fundamentalists and terrorists to thrive without fear of law – if there is any.
A young man lynched, killed by mob; killing on video; no political leader condemns killing & police arrests no one!! #Pakistan #MashalKhan
— Husain Haqqani (@husainhaqqani) April 14, 2017
Besides Mashal, the fundamentalist students attacked another student named Abdullah accusing him of being an Ahmadi.
Since the Ordinance XX allows for the persecution of the Ahmadi Muslims (they are legally not recognized as Muslims in Pakistan), the fundamentalists find it easy to kill them and destroy their property. Recently a mob burnt alive a baby, a seven-year-old girl and an old woman from the Ahmadi community on false charges of blasphemy.
Idea that blasphemy is punishable by death is supported by majority in Pakistan. You don’t need jihadis or Islamists to create toxic climate
— Julie Lenarz (@MsJulieLenarz) April 14, 2017
100s of students that lynched #MashalKhan in Pakistan were not jihadists or Islamists, but Muslims who believe blasphemers deserve death.
— Julie Lenarz (@MsJulieLenarz) April 14, 2017
Two funerals: #MashaalKhan and Mumtaz Qadri; state-run malignant indoctrination actually works #Pakistan pic.twitter.com/eogYQvZynY
— Mohammad Taqi (@mazdaki) April 14, 2017
Technically, anyone can be killed in Pakistan if accused of blasphemy. All a mullah has to do is to accuse; no proof is needed. And the mob will do the rest.
Even a rumor can get anyone killed. Pakistan’s media reports that in Mashal’s case the mob appeared to have been incited by rumors.
Islamists protesting against blasphemy in Pakistan. EPA
There is another angle to Mashal’s death. Some say that he spoke against the university administration and someone from the administration may have created circumstances for his killing.
Perhaps someone in the AWKU administration also had a beef with #MashaalKhan over his criticism of them
V @memzarma https://t.co/ljlLzvEJsC pic.twitter.com/WZhW5VX85U— Mohammad Taqi (@mazdaki) April 14, 2017
But all of this points to an even more dangerous reality: If this is how Pakistan’s students behave then it can be safely assumed that it is now a failed state.
If students are afflicted by a lack of common sense and religious bigotry then the future of any country is doomed. What if any of these students one day assumes an influential position in the country?
