PROTESTERS against the brutal killing of a student in Pakistan have staged a peaceful demonstration in Bradford.

About 40 people, including children and pensioners, gathered in Centenary Square to show solidarity with murdered Mashal Khan’s family.

The 23-year-old, who was studying journalism and was accused of blasphemy against Islam after rumours he had posted offensive content on Facebook, was killed by a mob of fellow students on his university campus in the northern city of Mardan earlier this month.

Pervez Fateh, from the South Asian Forum in Bradford, said the group and its supporters were calling on the government in Pakistan to scrap the blasphemy law, which they believe led to Mr Khan’s death. He said: “We want the state to be separate from religion and the blasphemy law to be abolished. We want to see all laws that discriminate changed and the education curriculum to be based on secular thoughts that will create peace, posterity and love in people.”

Mr Fateh said the Forum would also be urging the British Government to put pressure on ministers in Pakistan.

“The blasphemy laws affect the Pakistani community here in Britain too, it affects extremist minds and attitudes which must be stopped. It’s the responsibility of the British Government to put pressure on the Government of Pakistan.

Nathan Javed, a member of the South Asian Forum, was also at Saturday’s protest in Bradford. He said: “We need to stand up to the misuse of these blasphemy laws where people take matters into their own hands. Anger can be triggered with no reason. University is supposed to be a place of learning not a place of killing. Mashal was only 23.

“It was claimed he was ignoring Allah and was spreading the message he did not believe in God but they should have been left alone if he had lost his faith. Religion should not have caused others to suppress him.”

Mohammed Tabassum, one of the protest organisers, said: “It was a gruesome murder which we condemn to the maximum. Religious extremism is rampant and the government of Pakistan must curtail it, otherwise terrorism will flourish. We held this protest to express our grief and emotions.

“We might be away from our country here in Bradford but we feel the agony of our countrymen.”

According to some newspaper reports, the number of suspects arrested in connection with the case now stands at more than 30.