LAHORE: The murder case of Pakistani origin British girl in Defence Housing Authority (DHA) has brought about ‘embarrassment’ for the senior command of the investigation wing police after the deceased’s father exposed them for utter failure to make any progress in this respect.
He raised questions on the heads of two major wings of the Lahore police including crime investigation agency (CIA) chief Shoaib Janbaz and DIG (investigation) Shariq Jamal despite the fact that all the suspects were nominated in the murder case of his daughter Mahira Zulfiqar.
Mr Zulfiqar alleged that they were influenced by a political personality.
In his video statement for the media persons, he named a girl, Sajjal, (slain girl’s another friend) alleging that she was also involved in the murder case.
With a choked voice, dejected Mr Zulfiqar said all suspected killers of his daughter had been identified and nominated in the murder case but no one was arrested so far.
Man nominated in murder gets pre-arrest bail
Declaring it police professional ‘incompetence’, he said they were unable to make any progress in the case despite a lapse of two weeks or so.“I strongly believe Sajjal is also involved in the murder case of my daughter but the police officers are not arresting her due to the influence of a political person”, Zulfiqar said alleging that the police called her but then let her go instead of arresting her.
He said his daughter wanted to live with her grandmother but Sajjal forced her to stay in the rented house. She remained in contact with Mahira till her death, Mr Zulfiqar said and appealed to the higher authorities to take notice of his daughter’s brutal murder.
The Lahore DIG investigation and the CIA chief refused to comment on the issue when this reporter called them and sent many messages.Meanwhile, a sessions court on Thursday granted pre-arrest bail to a man allegedly involved in the murder.
The suspect namely Zahir Jadoon appeared before the court along with his lawyer.
The lawyer stated before the court that the petitioner had no role in the incident, however, he wanted to join the police investigation to prove his innocence. He said there were apprehensions that the police would arrest the petitioner.
Additional District and Sessions Judge Salabat Javed granted the pre-arrest bail to the suspect for two weeks subject to surety bonds of Rs100,000. The judge also directed the suspect to join the police investigation and appear before the court on the next hearing.
Mahira, 25, was found shot dead at her rented house in Defence. She had arrived from the UK, where her family is settled, some two months back and shared the upper portion of the rented house with a friend, who was living in her adjoining room.
The police had nominated Jadoon and Saad Ameer Butt, friends of Mahira, in the FIR. Butt had surrendered himself to the police and joined the investigation.
Published in Dawn, May 21st, 2021
