CHARSADDA: A senior lawyer, Mohammad Jan Gigyani, was killed and his nephew Advocate Raham Shah suffered injuries in an attack on their vehicle by armed men near Shabqadar on Saturday.

According to police, Mr Gigyani, who was a leader of the Qaumi Watan Party (QWP), was going in his car along with Raham Shah and two other lawyers to Shabqadar tehsil courts when the attackers on a motorcycle intercepted them and opened fire on them. The attackers escaped after the incident.

Mr Gigyani suffered fatal injuries, while Mr Shah was slightly injured. The other two lawyers remained unhurt.

The injured lawyers were taken to the Lady Reading Hospital in Peshawar, where Mr Gigyani died.

Following the incident, Charsadda police registered a case on the complaint of Mr Shah and launched a search operation in the area to track down the attackers.

The Jamaatul Ahrar, a splinter group of the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, contacted some reporters and claimed responsibility for the attack.

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Bar Council will observe a day of mourning on Monday and a strike will be observed in Peshawar, Kohat, Hangu, Charsadda, Nowshera, Mardan and Swabi districts.

Talking to reporters, the Peshawar High Court Bar Association’s President Muzamil Khan said the lawyers and courts had repeatedly been attacked and they should be provided protection to avoid recurrence of such incidents.

Published in Dawn, March 5th, 2017