Pakistan’s Penal Code prohibits blasphemy against any recognised religion, providing penalties from a fine to death. From 1987 to 2014, over 1,300 people have been accused of blasphemy.

“If you don’t fit in, probably you are doing the right thing,” reads one of the posts on a Facebook page of students at the Abdul Wali Khan University in Mardan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P). But that wasn’t the case of Mashal Khan, a 23-year-old journalism student who was a frequent contributor to the page. On April 13, he was lynched by a group of fellow students for “committing blasphemy”. His attackers shot the lynching on mobile cameras and shared the video on social networks as if they were sending a message to others.

Wali Khan University is considered one of the top public universities of K-P province. Named after Wali Khan, the son of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, who was a close friend of Mahatma Gandhi and known for his non-violent opposition to the British Raj, the campus has a vibrant political culture. One of the student organisations is the Pakhtun Students Federation (PSF), the students wing of Ghaffar Khan’s left-leaning Awami National Party. Mashal, who was a member of the PSF, had pasted the images of Karl Marx and Che Guevara on his hostel wall. In Facebook posts, he called himself a “humanist”. The police have already rejected the blasphemy charges, saying there’s no evidence against Mashal. They have have so far arrested 32 people, including university employees

In Pakistan, blasphemy has always been a controversial issue. The Penal Code prohibits blasphemy against any recognised religion, providing penalties from a fine to death. From 1987 to 2014, over 1,300 people have been accused of blasphemy.

Most political parties have condemned the attack and offered support for the probe. “This is law of the jungle. I haven’t slept the whole night,” cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan, whose Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf rules the K-P province, said after Mashal was killed. But the ‘law of the jungle’ Mr. Khan has condemned appeared to have followed Mashal to his grave. The cleric at his home town in Swabi district of K-P refused to lead the funeral prayers. When a relative came forward to lead the prayers, he was confronted by a mob. It didn’t end there. The local graveyard caretaker refused to allow his burial. The family had to bury him on its private land.

But Mashal’s family is unperturbed by the allegations. “Those who I trusted to teach my son killed him,” says his father, Iqbal Khan. “There should be justice. I know justice will not bring my Mashal back. Yet I urge all political parties, for your children’s sake, and mine, let’s become one.” Police believe Mashal’s interviews to a local Pashto channel irked the university administration. He had slammed the university and teachers over fee hikes and for operating without a vice-chancellor.

Failure of the system

Wajahat, a student who has been arrested in connection with the case, said in his testimony that it was the security in-charge of the university, Bilal Sheikh, who incited the students. “Bilal came to the university meeting and said he wants to kill Mashal with his own hands and those opposing this will be dealt with an iron fist,” he said.

Pakistan’s Human Rights Commission has issued a strong statement after the incident, slamming the government for its failure to “protect citizens from senseless violence” in the name of religion. Mashal is the latest on a long list of blasphemy-related murders in Pakistan. Over 60 people accused of blasphemy have been killed before their trial got over. Iqbal Khan agrees with the HRC: “My son has not been killed in Wali Khan University. It is the writ of the State that died.”