HARIPUR: A district and sessions court here on Saturday sentenced four persons to life imprisonment for the murder of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf provincial deputy secretary general Tahir Iqbal and his friend and declared seven others including principal accused former MPA Faisal Zaman proclaimed offenders.

The family of the PTI slain leader has, however, vowed to move high court for awarding harsher sentence to the convicted persons.

Through a detailed judgment consisting of 129 pages, the court of additional district and session judge IV, Ijaz Younas, after completion of arguments in the case convicted Sher Ghazi, Rehmatullah, Sher Ali and Farmanullah of abetting and hatching conspiracy for the murder of Tahir Iqbal and his friend Sardar Gul Nawaz.

The court also imposed a fine of Rs100,000 on each of them as compensation to the legal heirs of both deceased and in case of default they would undergo six months extra imprisonment.

The court also declared proclaimed offenders seven other accused in the case including former MPA Faisal Zaman, Raza Mohammad, Alamzeb, Azizur Rehman, Mohammad Zohaib, Niqab and Tanveer Ahmed.

Seven including former MPA declared proclaimed offenders

Faisal Zaman was arrested on January 11, 2021 from the premises of court when the anti-terrorism court cancelled his transit bail in the double murder case. However, he escaped from the MPA hostel in Peshawar on April 23, 2022 that was declared sub-jail for him to attend the session of provincial assembly. He is still at large.

Malik Tahir Iqbal was assassinated along with his friend and former councillor Sardar Gul Nawaz on September 13, 2020. They were on way back to Ghazi after offering fateha for a deceased supporter when they were attacked.

Adeel Iqbal, the younger brother of Malik Tahir Iqbal, told a news conference that he would move high court against the judgment to award harsher punishment to the convicted persons.

“The convicted persons had confessed that they were involved in the murder of my brother and his friend on the instigation of Faisal Zaman. I would pray the high court to award them capital punishment,” he said.

KILLED: A man was stabbed to death in the limits of Kotnajibullah police station, officials said here on Friday.

They said that Mohammad Iqbal and his relatives Jamil, Ajab Khan and Mohammad Miskeen of Motiyan village had a land dispute. On Thursday evening, they said Iqbal and his rivals came across and Jamil, Ajab and Miskeen attacked him with daggers, leaving him critically injured.

The area people were shifting him to the trauma centre, when he succumbed to multiple injuries. Police claimed to have arrested the attackers.

Meanwhile, a girl was killed allegedly by her father in an Afghan refugee camp here. Khalabat Township police said the motive behind the murder was not known.

Published in Dawn, August 13th, 2023