SWABI: Iqbal Khan, father of Storee Saba Iqbal, who completed her graduation in journalism from Toronto Metropolitan University, Canada, on June 19, has said that nearly a decade ago his son, Mashal Khan, was dragged out of his hostel room and lynched to death in a false blasphemy case in the campus of Abdul Wali Khan University, Mardan, but now “my daughter turned the grief into strength and I feel proud over her tremendous accomplishment.”
“However, I never forget the moment when the mutilated body of my son reached home,” he told Dawn, adding that he was so severely beaten to death by a rowdy mob that in the first attempt, her mother said: This is not the body of my beloved son.
He had very beautiful fingers and hands, and both hands of this youngster are bitterly broken.
As he was recalling the tragic day, tears of grief were pouring down his cheeks.
“Saba’s success is a landmark achievement and it may work as inspiration for various other crisis-ridden girls of all Pashtun regions in Pakistan and Afghanistan,” he said while buying sweets in the Zaida city market because they were expecting their relatives and well-wishers to visit their home to congratulate Saba Iqbal’s extraordinary success.
Mashal was terribly beaten before being murdered by an unruly crowd of his fellow students, and his body was also mutilated in April 2017.
As the news of Saba Iqbal’s success was shared here, social media exploded with her outstanding feat of completing graduation in journalism from a leading Canadian university.
“Congratulations to Saba Iqbal and her family, and all of us,” said Jalil Ahmad Khan, a human rights activist. “The house, which was immersed in darkness, now, Saba of the same abode, illuminated it as she upheld the principle of extraordinary hard work. This is a great success in a time when the Taliban have kept depriving girls of contemporary education.”
“Mashal Khan was also a student of the journalism department. His dreams were shattered, and his voice was silenced, and he was not allowed to reach the climax of his life,” Iqbal Khan said, adding that, his sister has completed the journey that Mashal was forced to leave unfinished, making it clear that ideas remain safe in people’s minds and they cannot be destroyed.
“I was a ninth-grade student when the heartbreaking incident involving my brother occurred. I pledged to myself on that terrifying day that I would make my brother’s dream come true. Today I am the proud sister of my brother as I completed my graduation on June 19. When I return home, I will drive first to the Mashal’s mausoleum to pay homage to my brother,” she told Dawn from Toronto.
The young girl said: “My father believes in the power of knowledge, imparting modern education to his all children, especially the daughters.”
She remarked: “After my brother’s painful death, we faced so unimaginable grave threat that we were forced to give up our education.”
Answering a question, she said: “My family believes in community service and I chose journalism to tell the truth because we want that another innocent does not become victim like my brother.”
Published in Dawn, June 28th, 2026
