PESHAWAR: Abdullah, one of the three students friends of Mashal Khan, has said that the mob had pressured him to testify against Mashal that he had committed blasphemy
In a statement reordered before a judicial magistrate, Abdullah rejected all allegations against him.
Abdullah said a group of students accused him, Mashal and a third student, Zubair with blasphemy.
The students, which included Muhammad Abbas, Mudassir Bashir (the class representative) and some other students, also asked Abdullah to testify that Mashal had committed blasphemy, which he refused.
Abdullah was later attacked by the same students while he was hiding in the bathroom of the chairman’s office until he was rescued by the police, his statement said.
Giving his account of the events that unfolded prior to Mashal’s lynching, Abdullah said he on April 13, around 11am, Muhammad Abbas called him and asked him to come to the journalism department.
When Abdullah reached there, he found Mudassir Bashir (the class representative) and some other students who charged him and Mashal with blasphemy and alleged that they had “deviated from the right path, along with Zubair”.
During the course of these events, three teachers locked Abdullah in the bathroom of the chairman’s office purportedly to save him from the enraged students. While the teachers were trying to diffuse the situation, a mob had started to gather. At this time, according to Abdullah, Mashal was “reportedly in the hostel”.
The mob broke down the bathroom door and beat Abdullah up “with fists and blows”, until he was rescued by local police and some sympathising students.
He claimed that he can identify some of the attackers behind Mashal’s lynching through video footage.
Abdullah said he voluntarily contacted police to record his statement, adding: “I want justice not only for me but for Mashal Khan as well as we were innocent.”
The lynching survivor further said prior to the events of April 13, the university administration “was deadly against Mashal Khan” because he had criticised the loopholes in the university’s administration and the misuse of authority by university officials.
