An anti-terrorism court has delivered its verdict in the horrific Mishal Khan lynching case, handing death sentence to a prime accused, life imprisonment to five others, and three-year rigorous imprisonment to another 25, while 26 suspects have been acquitted and perpetual arrest warrants issued against four men, including three prime suspects. The case has been deeply disturbing because a young man was brutally tortured and murdered by a mob on a false blasphemy allegation. And also because it is symptomatic of so much that is wrong in this society. In the prevailing atmosphere, a mere accusation of blasphemy often amounts to pronouncement of death sentence, without any consequences for the perpetrators. In the present case only after the PTI Chairman Imran Khan condemned the murder and vowed to bring all involved to justice, did other leaders break their silence to condemn the horror. A joint investigation team (JIT) formed to carry out investigations into the case found, like in so many previous instances, that it was a premeditated murder. According to the JIT report, a group of students and university employees threatened by Mishal Khan's criticism of their affairs had decided a month earlier to put him out of the way.
Sadly for this society, it is easy for anyone acting out of a selfish motive to use the fair name of Islam and its holy personages to incite mob violence to get rid of someone. Even when an FIR is registered against the accused the lawyers are too afraid to defend them. Not too long ago, the Bishop of Faisalabad committed suicide out of frustration as he had failed to have any lawyer defend a Christian young man arrested on a blasphemy allegation. And the judges are under pressure to deliver the guilty verdict. In one instance, a Lahore High Court judge was shot dead in his chambers for exonerating a blasphemy accused. Even in the present high profile case, it was not easy for Mishal's family to pursue legal proceedings. Harassed and threatened on behalf of the perpetrators backed by some local religious leaders, Mishal's father requested the Peshawar High Court to shift the case to Abbottabad, where an ATC court tried the suspects inside Haripur jail. The verdict has generally been welcomed with a sigh of relief, in the hope that it would discourage religious vigilantism in future. The family though is not completely satisfied because of the acquittal of 26 people believed to be involved in the lynching, and have expressed the intention to go into appeal against them. Creditably for it, the KP government has also decided to file an appeal in the case.
But the two religious parties with a significant following in the province have behaved badly. The JUI-F provincial secretary general along with JI's district emir took out a rally in Mardan to honour the acquitted men calling them 'ghazis' and asking for the freeing, by the higher courts, of those sentenced. In so doing they have not only shown defiance for the laws of the land, but also encouraged more people to act as the judge, jury and executioner. Chiefs of both parties, Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman and Sirajul Haq, owe an explanation for the behaviour of their party men.
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