Mardan university provost distances himself from blasphemy inquiry notification

The provost of Abdul Wali Khan University, Fayyaz Ali Shah, has denied having any part in the varsity notification to launch an inquiry into blasphemy allegations against three students including slain Mashal Khan.

Speaking to reporters on Saturday, Provost and Controller Examinations Fayyaz Ali Shah claimed the notification had errors and was issued by the assistant registrar without his knowledge.

"We did not issue the notification. It was issued with the assistant registrar's signatures without bringing it into my knowledge or the registrar's," he said.

Fayyaz said the university administration had only made the decision to form an inquiry committee, but that the murder took place around the same time.

The document—dated April 13, the same day Mashal was brutally murdered by an enraged mob—included Fayyaz Ali Shah's name among the six-member committee to probe the allegations.

The notification was signed by the assistant registrar and stated that the two other students have been rusticated and banned from entry into the university (all campuses) until further orders.

An earlier version of the document stated all three students, including deceased Mashal Khan, have been rusticated and banned from entering the university.

Copies of both versions of the notification are available with Geo.tv. Both documents are still available on the server where the university's website is hosted and can also be accessed via Waybackmachine, an online service that caches older versions of web pages on the internet.

One of the three students named in the notification was also injured by the mob on April 13 (Thursday) before the brutal killing of Mashal Khan on blasphemy allegations in the afternoon.

The deceased student, Mashal, was enrolled at the university’s Journalism and Mass Communications department.

Two separate cases have been registered against 20 suspects under clauses 427, 297, 302 and 148 of the Pakistan Penal Code and section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act. Police has arrested four more of the nominated suspects, bringing the number of total arrested suspects to 12. 

An anti-terrorism court has remanded eight arrested suspects into police custody for four days.