Five suspects including SCBA president’s son arrested

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.

A police statement said a joint team carried out an operation in Peshawar and Khyber districts and apprehended five suspects including three from the Ghundi area in Jamrud. The three detained men reportedly belonged to Bara in Khyber. 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.

The case was registered under sections 302 (murder or Qatl-i-Amd), 324 (attempted murder), 148 (armed with deadly weapon), 149, 109 (abetment), 427 (damage to property), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter a public servant from discharging duty) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code, read with Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act.

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. He also pledged to fully cooperate with all the relevant law-enforcement agencies as he and his son had nothing to do with this incident.

Funeral prayers were offered for the deceased in the judge’s native village and they were buried at his ancestral graveyard at Jag Killay. A large number of mourners, including judges, lawyers, tribal elders and notables attended the funeral.

Aftab Afridi belonged to the Barkambarkhel sub-tribe of the Afridis in Khyber. He was appointed judge of the ATC in Swat in February this year.

Decision to secure BAP votes taken by Bilawal: Gilani

By News Desk

ISLAMABAD: Leader of the Opposition in the Senate Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani said on Monday that it was PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari’s decision to seek the support of Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) lawmakers for his election to the post.

"They approached me that we, a four member group headed by Dilawar, want to join you. Then they didn't approach me, they approached chairman sahab [Bilawal]," he said. He made the revelation in an interview to a local media outlet, where he said he was neither interested in the seat of the Senate chairmanship nor leader of the opposition, but it was Bilawal who made the decision.

Gilani expressed support for the decision to secure votes from BAP senators and said they were disgruntled members who approached Bilawal for the post of leader of the opposition in the Senate. “But what is wrong in taking their support?” he questioned.Gilani further said that the PDM must stay intact but the decision to resign from assemblies had come out of the blue. He questioned what would be the next move after the resignations came, adding that this was what the PPP’s Central Executive Committee would ask them.