THE nation awaits justice for Mashal Khan, a 23-year-old student of Abdul Wali Khan University, who was killed by a vigilante mob earlier this year for allegedly publishing blasphemous content online.
Soon after the tragic incident, PTI chief Imran Khan and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister spoke to the media and expressed their resolve to bring justice to the aggrieved party. However, despite tall claims no justice has been provided to the Mashal Khan`s family as yet.
It is worth noting that the incidents of mob lynching on charges of blasphemy have become quite frequent. However, merely punishing the murderers seems not to be the ultimate solution to this issue.
The nation has seen Mumtaz Qadri who was declared guilty and charged and sentenced to death for murdering then Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer becoming a `martyr` and being portrayed as a `hero of the nation`.
Therefore, creating deterrence merely through punishing the criminals seems to be a hollow strategy. It is time this issue was addressed at the grassroots level so that a permanent solution could be found.
The propagators of such extremist ideologies must be brought to justice. If the sources of such extremist ideas are not addressed, murders would continue to happen. Also, a counter-narrative should be promoted through our vibrant electronic media that can portray the tolerant and true version of Islam.
