QUETTA: Ahmed Ali Kohzad — an MPA-elect from the Hazara community who has been declared non-Pakistani by Nadra which has blocked his national identity card on the suspicion that he is an Afghan national — has allegedly been found involved in a murder case and a court has issued warrants for his arrest.

Mr Kohzad, the secretary general of the Hazara Democratic Party (HDP) who has been elected to the Balochistan Assembly in the July 25 polls, is already facing an inquiry in connection with his Pakistani nationality.

He has filed in the Balochistan High Court a petition challenging the National Database and Registration Authority’s act of blocking his computerised national identity card. In the last hearing, the deputy commission of Quetta submitted an inquiry report which said that Mr Kohzad was an Afghan refugee. The next hearing will be held on Aug 6.

Sources said that the Crime Investigation Agency of police force requested the court to issue the MPA-elect’s arrest warrants in the murder case of Muhammad Hafeez, a goldsmith whose body was found in Marriabad a few years ago.

However, the MPA-elect has not been arrested yet.

Initially, the murder case was registered against unidentified people at the Quaidabad police station, but later police nominated five suspects, including Mr Kohzad, on an application of the son of the deceased.

Afterwards, the case was transferred to the CIA for investigation and it was disclosed that the plot of the land where the body of Mr Hafeez was found was owned by Mr Kohzad and three of his friends.

On the other hand, Muhammad Rahim, the brother of the deceased, said that his nephew had mistakenly nominated Mr Kohzad in the case and later they had come to know that Mr Kohzad had nothing to do with the murder.

Offering his version in a telephonic talk, Mr Kohzad denied any involvement in the murder of Mr Hafeez and said that he was not the owner of the plot from where the body was recovered.

He said that he with his three friends wanted to purchase that plot but could not do so because they didn’t have required amount to pay the price of the plot.

“I have no link with the murder of Hafeez. My three friends who have been nominated in the case have already been released on bail,” Mr Kohzad said.

“I too will present my stance before investigators soon,” the MPA-elect added.

Published in Dawn, August 6th, 2018