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| India-Pakistan |
| JUI-F workers in Mardan protest Mashal Khan case verdict, welcome acquitted 'heroes' |
| 2018-02-08 |
| [DAWN] A large group of Jamaat Ulema-e-Islam ...the political wing of the Pak Taliban... Fazl (JUI-F) workers gathered at the Mardan Motorway Interchange on Wednesday to protest an Anti-Terrorism Court's (ATC) verdict in the Mashal Khan murder case. The crowd rolled their eyes, jumped up and down, and hollered poorly rhymed slogans real loud against the slain Mashal Khan and vowed to "move the Supreme Court against the verdict". Talking to DawnNews, a JUI-F worker said that they had congregated there to "welcome" the 26 "heroes" who had been acquitted by the ATC earlier today. JUI-F workers gather around the car of one of the 26 acquitted people as he arrives in Mardan. ‐ Photo by author Six of the acquitted had reached Mardan, two had gone to Swat ...a valley and an administrative district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistain, located 99 mi from Islamabad. It is inhabited mostly by Pashto speakers. The place has gone steadily downhill since the days when Babe Ruth was the Sultan of Swat... while others were on their way, local sources said. One person, who was released by the ATC earlier today, was welcomed and garlanded by a jubilant crowd as he got off from a car. Addressing the crowd, JUI-F's provincial general secretary Maulana Shujaul Mulk said that "this issue [of Mashal Khan's verdict] will not end here". He also criticised the government for supporting the verdict. Another provincial party leader warned that if the government did not release the convicts that were sentenced by the ATC, JUI-F will hold protests and added that the party "will not sit quietly [till the convicts are released]". An ATC in Haripur jail had announced its verdict in the Mashal Khan lynching case earlier on Wednesday, handing one person two death sentences, five persons multiple terms of life imprisonment, and 25 others jail sentences, but acquitting 26 others for want of sufficient evidence. |
| Posted by:Fred |