Charsadda: student kills college principal, accuses him of blasphemy

[Samandri]

Rebuked for skipping classes, student kills college principal, accuses him of blasphemy





A grade 12 student at a private college in Charsadda shot his college principal dead on Monday after being censured for skipping school to attend the November 2017 sit-in of religio-political parties in Islamabad's Faizabad area.
In a video acquired by DawnNews, the student, while being arrested, appeared to justify the murder saying he believed the college principal had committed blasphemy.
It was not immediately clear what prompted that charge.
"I have been taught... to kill... to not be afraid. Don't be afraid of disrespecting the one who" commits blasphemy, the student can be heard saying in the video in Pashto.
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"You can kill me," he tells the arresting officers.
Shabqadar police said the suspect, Faheem, had fired multiple shots at his principal, Sareer, which proved fatal. District Police Officer (DPO) Charsadda Zahoor Afridi confirmed the incident.
The accused in the video seems to accept that he had fired six shots at the principal. "I am not afraid to kill," the student adds.
Police said the principal had earlier expressed his anger at Faheem over his being absent from college for three days.
Sources told DawnNews that the student had been angry that he was marked absent during the days he was attending the Faizabad sit-in.
Blasphemy is a highly sensitive issue in Pakistan, where even unproven allegations can stir mob violence and lynchings.
Last year, a mob in Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan beat up a student, Mashal Khan, to death after accusing him of blasphemy over social media.
The incident caused an outrage across the country, with calls for the blasphemy law to be amended. The investigation into Mashal's murder was concluded after a joint investigation team probing the case cleared the victim of all charges.
At least 65 people have been murdered by vigilantes over blasphemy allegations since 1990.


Rebuked for skipping classes, student kills college principal, accuses him of blasphemy - Pakistan - DAWN.COM

[SavageCurry]

It seems like an effective excuse to kill people you don't like.

[maneatinglizard]

Weren't the Faizabad protests a Brelwi thing? Or was it more universal?

Is the killer really saying his principal committed blasphemy by marking him absent for attending the protests, or is there more to this? That's ridiculous reasoning if so.

[Samandri]

Weren't the Faizabad protests a Brelwi thing? Or was it more universal?

Is the killer really saying his principal committed blasphemy by marking him absent for attending the protests, or is there more to this? That's ridiculous reasoning if so.

Deobandis and Bareilwis are on one page on khatma-i-nabuwat thing (and bareilwis are also found in KP and FATA). A while ago i shared the Kadu story of Imam Abu Yousaf in which he was willing to behead a man in his majlis who remarked 'but i dont like Kadoo' when the session of fazail of kadoo sharif was going on. Imam Yusuf 'perceived' blasphemy in the words of man who had not intended blasphemy , and he was ready to behead a human being without a hesitation. The story is told by Hanafi of every category (whether he is Deobandi or Bareilwi) with great reverence as the ideal level of imaan and ishq-i-rasool one should have. The principal was scolding his student for absentee out of habit and might have blurted out that attending school is more important than attending protests for khatma-i-nabuwat thing. This was perceived as 'blasphemy' by the student just like Imam Yusuf perceived blasphemy in remarks about taste of Kadoo shareef. When you believe that entire universe was created for existence of Prophet Muhammad p.b.u.h and that you are supposed to love him more than your parents/children and your own self, then such reactions are understandable.

We do know that the proper punishment of insulting Prophet Muhammad p.b.u.h is death. Prophet himself did not allow any one to insult him in Medina period and sent men to kill men /women who used to do satirical poetry about him. A blind Sahabi even killed his pregnant slave-woman (along with the fetus in the belly) who was calling names to the Prophet. The Prophet with divine guidance could determine whether his slave-woman had really committed blasphemy or the man is lying. The problem is that today we have no means to determine whether a man who kills his wife for blasphemy in the absence of witnesses, is telling the truth or has committed a murder for some other reason. I dont know what fiqh has to say on this issue, that whether a single man is allowed to take law into his own hands or should leave the matter to the state. Bizarre and disturbing cases are emerging regarding blasphemy, for example a non-adult 11 year christian girl was arrested (thus saved from angry violent mob) after her neighbor claimed to have seen burnt pages of Quran in her bag. Farkhunda was murdered by violent mob in Kabul when some one uttered that she has burned a Quran. Men were kicking her to death even if they did not know whether she really had blasphemed. All you have to do these days is saying the word blasphemy and you can easily kill some one through enraged mob. When Salman Taseer was killed by Mumtaz Qadri, all the people around me (Deobandis) were praising Mumtaz Qadri for sending "Gustakh-i-Rasool" to hell. A classmate of mine told his close friends that Salman Taseer did not commit blasphemy and that Mumtaz Qadri was wrong in taking law into his own hands, he should be hanged for killing a man he was supposed to guard. His close friends, who were his kiliwalan, ganged up on him and beat him badly for saying that. I was of the same mindset when i was very young but as i am aging i feel my imaan level is getting low as i am obviously troubled by the Kadoo story when i should not be.