MARDAN - Activists of several political and religious parties staged a protest in Mardan on Friday against the convictions of 31 suspects in the Mashal Khan murder case, reported private TV channels.
An anti-terrorism court had convicted 31 out of 57 as it acquitted 26 others.
The rally led by Mardan’s Tahaffuz Khatm-e-Nabuwat leader Qari Ikramul Haq was joined by Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) workers.
The protesters gathered at Pakistan Chowk were holding banners inscribed with anti-government and anti-Mashal slogans as they chanted slogans against them.
One of the banners in the rally read: “Mashalyon [Mashal supporters], stop us if you can!”
Advocate Syed Akhtar, a JI local leader and one of the counsels of the accused in the Mashal Khan murder case, in his address to the rally said the “entire ummah” stands behind those who have been convicted.
He said the protesters wanted to warn the government that if it goes ahead with appealing the acquittal of the 26 men in court, then “we will block the roads”.
