SCBA president’s son among five arrested for judge’s murder

PESHAWAR: The police have arrested the five accused named in the First Information Report (FIR) filed by the son of the slain Anti-Terrorism Court judge Aftab Afridi.

Aftab Afridi was attacked by unidentified gunmen while being driven from Peshawar to Islamabad on Sunday at the Ambar Interchange on the Peshawar-Islamabad Motorway in Swabi district.

The FIR registered by his son Majid Afridi noted that Aftab Afridi had attended a wedding in Peshawar and was proceeding to the federal capital. Aftab Afridi's wife Bibi Zainab, daughter-in-law Kiran and her three-year old son Mohammad Sanan were also martyred in the attack. Kiran was said to be six months' pregnant. Their driver and gunman were wounded in the attack. A senior police official said the gunmen fired from the back and the side and didn't let the judge's gunman to retaliate. Police officials, requesting anonymity, described it as a targetted attack. They said normally two escorts accompanied the judge but there was none with him on Sunday.

The KP Police has taken the murders as a challenge. The IGP KP, Sanaullah Abbasi, visited Swabi soon after the incident on Sunday and again on Monday to review progress in the investigation. However, police officials said there is no clue yet even though an investigation team of officers has been formed to work out the case. The judges of the higher courts and Supreme Court are provided a high level of security and the police in the districts from which they pass are alerted along with the Motorway Police under the SOPs. The lawyers in KP observed strike on Monday and refused to appear in the court as a mark of protest against the killings. It needs to be mentioned that Yaseen Farooq, the DIG Police Mardan, was posted on this position 10 days ago. Mohammad Shoaib, the district police officer, Swabi was also posted there recently. Both were still settling down when this major crime happened. The police statement added that Aftab Afridi's son Majid Afridi will identify the suspects.

It said the two vehicles mentioned in the FIR have also been taken into custody by the police. Those arrested included the son of Abdul Latif Afridi, the president of the Supreme Court Bar Association. Latif Afridi, who is a prominent lawyer, progressive politician and Pakhtun nationalist and had also remained an MNA from Khyber, was also named in the FIR as an accused along with his son. However, Latif Afridi through a statement issued on his behalf by the Supreme Court Bar Association Secretary, Ahmad Shehzad Farooq Rana, maintained that he and his son have been falsely implicated in the FIR. The statement added that the father and son were busy transacting family affairs and later in the evening supervising plantation work at their agricultural fields on Sunday when the incident happened. He noted that Latif Afridi immediately condemned the attack as targetting women and children is against Pakhtun traditions and cultural norms.