- Spokesman says Khan committed suicide in Shenyang city
- Comments follow viral clip on social media detailing the incident
ISLAMABAD: Rejecting reports that a Pakistani student had been killed in China, the Foreign Ministry said on Monday that Usama Ahmad Khan had committed suicide.
The statement follows a shocking video which went viral on social claiming to show a foreign man being beaten to death on the streets of China allegedly by his Chinese girlfriend’s father and brother.
“A Pakistani student [named] Usama Ahmad Khan committed suicide in Shenyang city of the Liaoning province in China. He was a student of Shenyang Jianzhu University,” Dr Mohammad Faisal, Foreign Office Spokesman, said in a statement, urging people to respect the privacy of the deceased and his family.
“The video being circulated on social media is fake and is not of Mr Usama Ahmad Khan. We request all to help us in exercising caution in such matters, avoiding sensationalism and stop spreading ‘fake news’,” he said.
The statement further clarified that after being notified of the incident, the Ambassador of Pakistan to China deputed an embassy official to visit Shenyang. “In Shenyang, he met students and faculty of the university, as well as, the police authorities. Throughout this process, he remained in close contact with the family of the deceased and got full support of the Chinese authorities,” the statement said.
Dr Faisal said that the body had been moved from the Liaoning province to Beijing on November 17 and that “all arrangements are in place” to fly it back to Pakistan tonight.
“I spoke to our Amb in Beijing earlier this morning and he said the video of the Pak student circulating was ‘not authentic’,” Pakistan’s Federal Minister for Human Rights tweeted on Monday.