Mashal's lynching: Relatives of arrested suspects reject JIT report

MARDAN: The family members of the suspects arrested in Mashal Khan lynching incident have rejected the Joint Investigation Team (JIT)’s report with one accord and alleged the relevant officers using tactics to delay a submission of charge sheet of the case in the court.

In a press conference, the relatives of arrested suspects alleged that only one side of the picture has been reported while setting aside the other side ‘deliberately’ to make possible delay in submission of charge sheet of the case in the court.

A protest rally was also hold before the joint press conference of the family members of arrested suspects in Mashal Khan’s lynching case.

The rally was led by district councillors Mumtaz Bahadur, Sardar Khan, Dr. Sahibzada, Dr. Sher Wali, and Ameer Muhammad Khan.

Talking to media persons, Dr. Sahibzada said that the relatives of all accused had been passing through a tough time since occurrence of the lynching incident on April 13 this year at Abdul Wali Khan University (AWKU). “Police have arrested 57 suspects in the case. Most of the arrested persons are innocent who had no role in the incident”, claimed Sahibzada.

He opined that they were arrested only on the basis of suspicion.

Joining in conversation, Sardar Khan alleged that police and other officials have been using delay tactics in submission of the charge sheet. “It is causing difficulties and complications for the families of the arrested persons,” he added.

Another man, Mumtaz Bahadur, said that the matter has been politicised by some political quarters. “They are trying to take political advantages from the incident”, he remarked.

Highlighting the problems of the family members, Bahadur appealed concerned authorities to discard the demand of Mashal Khan’s father on transferring the case from Mardan court to Peshawar High Court (PHC). “It will further add to the prevailing difficulties for around 60 families of the arrested persons to travel Peshawar from Mardan”, he added.

Moreover, the parents and relatives of the arrested persons set June 10 as deadline for relevant officials to submit the charge sheet of the case in the court. They threatened to launch massive demonstration if their demand was not met.