Slain Afzal Kohistani's brother booked for killing man

Published May 26, 2019
A brother of late Afzal Kohistani, the central character behind the exposition of the 2012 Kohistan video scandal, was booked for his alleged involvement in the murder of an acquaintance of Kohistani's widow. — AFP/File
A brother of late Afzal Kohistani, the central character behind the exposition of the 2012 Kohistan video scandal, was booked for his alleged involvement in the murder of an acquaintance of Kohistani's widow. — AFP/File

A brother of late Afzal Kohistani, the central character behind the exposition of the 2012 Kohistan video scandal, was booked on Saturday for his alleged involvement in the murder of an acquaintance of Kohistani's widow.

According to a first information report registered against Kohistani's brother, Gul Nazar, and another suspect, Gul Shahzada, the former fatally shot Muhammad Waqar yesterday over suspicions that he was in a relationship with Kohistani's second wife.

The incident took place in the Byari area of Battagram's Allai tehsil in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The complainant, Waqar's brother, stated in the FIR that all three men were travelling to a relative's house in Allai when the two suspects stopped the car at Janazga and asked Waqar to step out and settle the dispute.

According to the FIR, when Waqar got out of the car, Gul Nazar opened fire on him, killing him on the spot.

Banna Station House Officer (SHO) Naveed Ahmed Khan said Gul Nazar had suspicions that his sister-in-law was having a relationship with Waqar, and that the suspects had stopped the victim's car and opened fire on him.

The suspects fled after the incident, the SHO said, adding that raids were ongoing to arrest the two men. SHO Khan said the victim and the suspects were members of the same tribe.

Meanwhile, another brother of Afzal Kohistani, Bin Yasar, denied the allegations when contacted by Dawn. "How can we kill people for honour if [we are] struggling in the courts against the menace of honour killings," he asked.

He claimed that Waqar's family was related to his own, and had even remained their house guests, so the allegation was beyond his understanding.

Afzal Kohistani was shot dead on March 6 in a densely populated area of Abbottabad's Sarban Chowk at around 8:10pm by unidentified gunmen who fled the crime scene.

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