LAHORE: The husband of alleged honour killing victim British-Pakistani Samia Shahid has requested the Lahore High Court to transfer trial of the suspects from Jhelum to Lahore.

Syed Mukhtar Kazim, the complainant in the case, made this request in a transfer application taken up by a single bench on Monday along with an objection put by the registrar office. The office had asked the petitioner to approach Rawalpindi bench of the high court.

However, Justice Abdul Sami Khan referred the matter to the chief justice as powers to transfer a case from one district to another rested with the top judge of the high court. The chief justice would hear the application on Oct 17.

Mr Kazim filed the petition through Advocate Malik Awais Khalid. The petitioner said he left the country due to death threats from the suspects. He said the suspects, including father and first husband of Ms Shahid, were influential in Jhelum and could affect the trial proceedings.

He also stated that the prosecution submitted an investigation report against the suspects before Additional District and Sessions Judge Ambreen Qureshi of Jhelum. However, he said, the suspects were in a position to hamper the dispensation of justice. Therefore, he asked the court to transfer the trial of the suspects from Jhelum to Lahore.

Samia Shahid had died in July this year when she came to see her ailing father in a village in Jhelum. Initially, the family claimed she had died of natural causes. However, Mr Kazim alleged that she was murdered by her family in the name of honour.

Mangla police had on July 23 registered a case on the complainant of Mr Kazim and arrested victim’s father Shahid and former husband Shakeel.

Published in Dawn, October 11th, 2016