LAHORE: A number of students from various universities and members of civil society staged on Friday a demonstration outside the Lahore Press Club to commemorate the first death anniversary of Mashal Khan, who was lynched by a mob on blasphemy charges. The participants vowed to follow in his footsteps.

Carrying placards, the participants, who were gathered under the banner of Progressive Students Collective, raised rhythmic slogans to the beats of tambourine one of them was playing, announced that they would follow Mashal Khan, who, they said, was silenced for raising the issue of corruption in the university he was studying in.

Mashal Khan, a student of Abdul Wali Khan University, Mardan, was lynched by his fellow students allegedly on the instigation of the university administration on April 13, 2017. The demonstrating students said though the universities in the country did not allow free speech, they would raise their voice against injustice, corruption andretrogression come what may.

Some of the placards were read as:`Killed on Campus, Justice for Mashal`, `I am Mashal`, `Right to Safe Campus`, `Down with Extremism`, `We Condemn Violence on Campus`, `Say No to Fundamentalism`, and `We Want Safe Pakistan for Our Children`.

Protesters chanted slogans demanding educational institutions to become intellectual spaces that encourage critical discourse rather than serving as hotbeds of extremist ideas and violence. Marshal`s death is a failure of the state which has, for too long, given a free reign to fascist tendencies in public spaces, they said.

They raised slogans lil(e `Mashal, your death will bring about revolution`, `Free dom is our right, we will snatch it`, `Attack, attack for Mashal, for your right`, and `Support us, we have come out to save the country`.

Members of the Feminist Collective sang Punjabi songs `Asaan Keeta Na Manzoor` and `Chattoo Watta.` The songs symbolize resistance and refusal to continue toeing lines that breed alienation, hatred and animosity amongst people.

The Azad Fankar, an independent theatre group, performed a play recreating thelynching of Mashal. The idea was to set the record straight, explained Takreema Arooj, who leads the troupe.

`Mashal was killed at the instigation of the university administration, which Mashal had exposed as being corrupt. It was not about blasphemy,` she said.Ziaullah Hamdard, Mashal`s teacher and a key witness in the murder case, said Mashal would never return, but his tragic death opened way to resistance against injustice. He was a truth and a light and had been eliminated for exposing the wrong.

He said the people all over the country were being eliminated for demanding their rights. `More Mashals have been killed after the murder of Mashal,` he said.

He said the government, politicians and institutions shed crocodile`s tears over the lynching. Just six people had been convicted, he said indicating that the number of the killers was much more. `I do have sympathy for the killers who were destroyed bysociety. `Who made them the killers?` he asked.

He said the demonstration was held for the safety of the children. `You have to run this country. If you follow Mashal Khan, he will stay alive,` he said.

Participants later took a round of the press club while chanting spirited slogans. They later dispersed peacefully amidst an announcement of the Pashtoon Yakjehti March being held by the Lahore Left Front in Lahore on April 22.

The participants belonged to the Punjab University, the GovernmentCollege University, FAST and the Beaconhouse National University .

Others were from the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, Women`s Collective, Lahore Left Front, People`s Solidarity Forum, Azaad Fankaar, Agrarian Environmentalist, Collective Lawyers Forum, Democratic Students Alliance, Peoples Students Front, Pashtoon Falahi Jirgah, Sangat, Civil Society of Gilgit Baltistan, Find Raza Friends, Hazara Students Community, Baloch Council, Seraiki Council, Awami Workers Party, Progressive Youth Federation and Women Action Forum.