PESHAWAR, July 30: The NWFP Bar Council has demanded that the government should hold judicial probe into the killing of a Peshawar High Court lawyer by the Nowshera police on Tuesday.

Speaking at a press conference, in the presence of the five children of the deceased lawyer, here at Peshawar Press Club on Wednesday, chairman of the executive council of NWFP Bar Council, Said Rehman advocate, alleged that the police at Kund checkpoint Nowshera fired only a single bullet killing PHC lawyer Zahid Jamal advocate on the spot on Tuesday.

Denying the police’s claim that the lawyer was killed during an exchange of fire between the law enforcers and smugglers, Mr Rehman said: “If there was a cross-fire, there should have been at least a single bullet hole in the police vehicle.”

The police also claimed to have seized a car of smugglers from which they recovered 50 cordless phones, a Kalashnikov, two pistols and 19 bullets. He said that all these weapons and cordless phone sets were out of order, and the police placed these items in the car “to save their skin after killing the lawyer.”

He asserted that it was a target killing as the police thought that Zahid Jamal was carrying contraband in his car, which was coming from the Punjab side and was going towards Peshawar.

He urged the police to register a case of “unintentional murder” against their officials involved in the killing, and pay Diyat amount to the deceased’s family under the Qisas and Diyat Ordinance.

Mr Rehman warned that if the police did not register the case, the NWFP Bar Council would launch a protest movement throughout the province.

He asked the MMA government to immediately constitute a judicial committee to investigate the killing of Zahid Jamal advocate.

Meanwhile, a meeting of the Peshawar High Court Bar Association condemned the killing of Zahid Jamal, and demanded registration of an FIR against sub-inspector Manzoor Khan.

The meeting, presided over by the association president Safeerullah Khan, unanimously passed two resolutions and asked the government to provide compensation of rupees two million to the family of Mr Jamal.