ISLAMABAD: Noor Mukadam’s father Shaukat Ali Mukadam on Saturday requested the trial court to give exemplary punishment to Zahir Jaffer for gruesome murder of his daughter.

Mr Mukadam, a former diplomat, was testifying before Additional District and Sessions Judge (ADSJ) Atta Rabbani.

Noor, 27, was found murdered and beheaded at Zahir Jaffer’s residence in F-7/4, Islamabad, on July 20, 2021.

An FIR was registered the same day against Zahir who was arrested from the site of the murder under Section 302 (premeditated murder) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) on the complaint of Mr Mukadam.

The ADSJ on Oct 14 had indicted Zahir along with 11 others — his parents, their three household staff, including Iftikhar (watchman), Jan Mohammad (gardener) and Jameel (cook), Therapyworks CEO Tahir Zahoor and employees Amjad, Dilip Kumar, Abdul Haq, Wamiq and Samar Abbas. The murder trial formally began on Oct 20.

Testifies in court, says Zahir Jaffer unwarrantedly killed Noor

Testifying before the court, Mr Mukadam said he did not have personal enmity with anyone and Zahir Jaffer unwarrantedly killed his daughter for which he may be convicted and awarded the death sentence.

Recollecting the details of the fateful day when Noor was murdered, Mr Mukadam said he and his wife had left for some chores on July 19 and when he returned to their house, Noor was not there. It prompted them to call her but Noor’s mobile was switched off.

According to the father, his daughter finally picked up the call and told him that she was going to Lahore with her friends for a few days, asking her parents not to worry.

He went on to state that Zahir called him on two numbers in the afternoon and said Noor was not with him.

However, at about 10pm he got a call from the Kohsar police station that his daughter had been killed.

He reached the police station and was taken to a house that belonged to Zahir. When he went inside, he found that Noor “was brutally murdered and decapitated.”

He said he identified Noor’s body and gave his signed statement to ASI Zubair Mazhar and later signed off on a report on the cause of death.

Mr Mukadam added that he had handed over Noor’s body to the police for a postmortem on July 21.

He recalled that on July 23 he was called by the police in connection with the investigation and recovery of Noor’s mobile phone. When he visited the Kohsar police station the next day during Zahir’s interrogation, the accused revealed that he had called Noor over on July 18 and confiscated her mobile prior to killing her. Upon visiting Zahir’s residence, the phone was found in a closet there, Mr Mukadam stated before the court.

Counsel for Zahir’s father Basharatullah Khan also cross-examined Mr Mukadam.

He asked him to confirm if it was usual for Noor to leave their house without informing them. He also questioned about the place he had searched Noor and whether he had provided the names of her friends in the investigation.

“No I did not name any friend and I did not search [for Noor] after the phone call came,” replied Mr Mukadam.

Therapyworks owner Tahir Zahoor’s lawyer Akram Qureshi also cross-examined the deceased’s father.

Mr Mukadam said he had seen the CCTV footage on the night of July 20 and in the morning on July 21. He said he did not know any of the other accused apart from the Jaffer family and had not had their identification parade carried out.

Further proceeding in the case was adjourned till Jan 17.

Published in Dawn, January 16th, 2022