PESHAWAR: One of many nation’s senior most legal professionals, Abdul Latif Afridi, was shot useless in a broad daylight assault contained in the bar room of the Peshawar Excessive Court docket (PHC) on Monday, allegedly over a household feud.
Mr Afridi, 80, was sitting within the bar room with different legal professionals when the attacker opened fireplace, SSP Operations Kashif Abbasi stated.
Mr Afridi, a former president of the Supreme Court docket Bar Affiliation, was rushed to Woman Studying Hospital however he couldn’t survive.
The police claimed that the attacker, recognized as Adnan Samiullah Afridi, was arrested from the spot and moved to East Cantonment Police Station the place a case has been registered.
An officer on the police station informed Daybreak that the suspect had confessed to the crime and that he had killed the sufferer over a household feud.
Peshawar Capital Metropolis Police Officer Muhammad Ijaz Khan has fashioned a fact-finding committee, with the SSP investigation as its head, to probe how the attackers managed to sneak a weapon into the courtroom’s premises.
The committee will submit its report inside 24 hours.
Funeral might be held on Tuesday (right this moment) at 11am at Hayatabad’s Bagh-i-Naran.
The KP Bar Council has introduced a three-day mourning in addition to a one-day boycott of authorized proceedings on Tuesday as a protest.
The incident shocked the authorized fraternity with the bulk believing that the assault could possibly be the results of a long-standing household feud.
Some senior legal professionals, on situation of anonymity, stated that in April 2021, an ATC decide Aftab Afridi, his spouse and two youngsters had been gunned down in Swabi.
Majid Afridi, the son of the deceased decide, nominated Mr Latif, together with 9 others, for being concerned within the assault.
Mr Latif Afridi was granted bail by the PHC 4 days after the assault as he denied any involvement and guaranteed the courtroom of his full cooperation with the authorities throughout the investigation.
On Dec 24, 2022, a Swabi courtroom acquitted Mr Latif and 4 others, together with his son Danish Afridi.
Samiullah Afridi, the daddy of Adnan Samiullah Afridi, the prime suspect in Monday’s assault, was additionally shot useless in 2015. He was a part of a legal professionals’ group contesting the case of Shakil Afridi.
Shakil Afridi has been accused of serving to the US monitor down former Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden. He was jailed for 33 years in Could 2012 after he was convicted of ties to militants, a cost he has at all times denied.
Though two militant organisations claimed duty for killing Mr Samiullah, his household refused to simply accept the declare and acknowledged that another person was concerned within the homicide.
After the loss of life of his father, Mr Adnan left for the UAE, citing threats to his life.
PBC, SCBA announce strikes
The Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) and the Supreme Court docket Bar Affiliation (SCBA) — two premier legal professionals’ our bodies — have additionally introduced a country-wide strike on Tuesday (right this moment).
In a press release, high PBC representatives demanded a speedy trial together with the rapid arrest of the “actual” culprits behind the assault.
The assertion requested legal professionals throughout the nation to not attend courts as a protest.
Likewise, the SCBA additionally gave a name for a nationwide strike and requested legal professionals to boycott the proceedings.
Whereas condemning the assault, PBC Vice Chairman Hafeezur Rehman Chaudhry expressed considerations over the failure of the KP authorities, Police and different regulation enforcement companies in offering safety to courts and legal professionals.
The PBC demanded the federal government enhance the safety in and round courts all around the nation.
Mr Chaudhry stated that Mr Latif was a senior lawyer and held vital places of work together with the PBC vice-chairman, SCBA president and Peshawar Excessive Court docket Bar Affiliation president.
He rendered invaluable providers for the welfare of Bars’ members and the authorized fraternity, Mr Chaudhry added.
Mr Latif at all times struggled for rule of regulation, the supremacy of the Structure, independence of the judiciary and true democracy, the PBC official stated. “He was a valuable asset of the authorized fraternity”.
SCBA President Abid S. Zuberi and Secretary SCBA Muqtedir Akhtar Shabbir, in addition to the manager committee of SCBA additionally expressed their shock over the assault.
“We’re of the opinion that easy phrases of condemnation are not adequate,” the SCBA assertion learn.
It additionally demanded the federal government and regulation enforcement companies take steps to permit the legal professionals to have interaction of their apply with none concern of being focused.
The SCBA additionally demanded a judicial inquiry into the incident.
The late lawyer was not solely an energetic authorized practitioner but in addition an distinctive and charismatic chief whose life and apply was primarily based on shallowness, truthfulness and integrity, the assertion stated.
He was a “important member” of the legal professionals’ motion and confronted persecution by the hands of the dictator however didn’t compromise on his democratic values, the SCBA stated.
The affiliation added that it’s going to increase the problem of legal professionals’ safety earlier than the federal government and demanded the parliament go a laws for the security of legal professionals.
Nasir Iqbal in Islamabad additionally contributed to this report
Printed in Daybreak, January seventeenth, 2023
