Mardan: Mashal Khan’s sister, Storee Saba Iqbal, has completed her journalism degree from Toronto Metropolitan University in Canada, her family said.
Her father, Iqbal Khan, said Saba graduated on June 19 and had turned the family’s grief into strength.
Mashal Khan, a journalism student at Abdul Wali Khan University in Mardan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, was lynched on campus in April 2017 after false blasphemy allegations.
Iqbal Khan said he still remembered the day his son’s body reached home. He said Saba’s achievement had brought pride to a family marked by loss.
He made the remarks in Zaida city while buying sweets for relatives and well-wishers expected to visit the family home.
Human rights activist Jalil Ahmad Khan congratulated Saba and her family. He said her success could inspire girls in the Pashtun regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Iqbal Khan said Mashal’s own journalism dreams were cut short. He said Saba had completed a journey that her brother could not finish.
Speaking from Toronto, Saba Iqbal said she was in ninth grade when her brother was killed. She said she pledged that day to fulfil his dream.
Read: ATC indicts 57 in Mashal Khan lynching
Saba said she would first visit Mashal’s mausoleum after returning home. She said her father believed in modern education for all his children, especially his daughters. She said she chose journalism to tell the truth and help prevent another innocent person from facing the fate her brother did.
