Court officials say eight Pakistanis who brutally murdered a fellow university student over his views were charged with murder and terrorism on April 15. Allegations of blasphemy often stem from the Muslim accuser's desire to take revenge and to settle petty, personal disputes, according to Christian groups working in the country.
Mardan's Deputy Inspector General of Police Mohammad Alam Shinwari said the deceased man, identified as journalism student Mashal Khan, had been accused of running Facebook pages "which allegedly published blasphemous content".
A friend of Mashal Khan recently came forward to the authorities and revealed that after his friend's gruesome murder, he was being pressured to lie that Khan had committed blasphemy.
According to a report in the Dawn, the eyewitness said a mob of university students first surrounded Abdullah and forced him to recite verses from the Holy Quran.
A notification issued by the police stated that 59 people were arrested from the university for their suspected involvement in the lynching. Police say they are also investigating the clerics in Khan's hometown of Swabi, some 60 kilometres south of Mardan, for attempting to disrupt funeral proceedings and instigate hatred against the dead student's family.
The Afghan Ambassador to Pakistan Omar Zakhilwal visited Swabi to condole the murder of 23 year old Mashal Khan.
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Meanwhile civil society in Peshawar held a protest against Mashal murder and demanded exemplary punishment for killers who are students and employees of University where Mashal used to study. Even unproven allegations can prompt mob lynchings or lesser violence.
Increasingly, however, right-wing vigilantes and mobs have taken the law into their own hands, killing at least 69 people over alleged blasphemy since 1990, according to a tally.
"We have gathered here to speak of something publicly which we usually avoid talking about at workplaces and at home, because we've been taught not to talk about it", Nighat said.
Mardan police on Sunday claimed to have arrested seven more suspects in relation to the case with the total number of those arrested reachin 20.
Human rights activists held small protests in several Pakistani cities on Saturday condemning the murder, and the United Nations in Pakistan urged authorities "to take firm action and bring the perpetrators to speedy justice". "Unless all those who played any part in Mashal's brutal murder are brought to justice, such barbarity will only spread", it said.
"I will ensure that the investigation is impartial", he said.
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