ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) president has condemned the brutal murder of an anti-terrorism court judge along with his family members and denied his or his son’s involvement in the crime.

Abdul Latif Afridi assured the authorities of his full cooperation in the matter to all relevant agencies, reiterating that he or his son had nothing to do with this matter.

The bar association also extended its deepest condolence and sympathies to the family members of the innocent victims and demanded removal of the names of the SCBA president and his son who, it said, had been falsely implicated in the FIR over the killing of the ATC judge and his three family members on Sunday.

Mr Afridi claimed that on Sunday he and his son were busy in transacting their family affairs while in the evening they were present at their agricultural land for plantation.

Upon hearing the horrific news of the murder, he said, he immediately condemned the murder as attacking women and children was utterly against Pashtun traditions and cultural norms.

SCBA secretary Ahmed Shehzad Farooq Rana quoted the incumbent bar association president as saying that he and his son had been falsely implicated in the FIR pertaining to the killing of ATC judge Aftab Afridi.

The ATC judge was travelling to Islamabad from Peshawar when his car came under attack at Swabi Interchange on the Islamabad-Peshawar Motorway. Aftab Afridi, his wife Bibi Zainab, daughter-in-law Kiran and three-year-old grandson Mohammad Sanan died while the driver was seriously wounded.

Published in Dawn, April 6th, 2021