PESHAWAR: A local court here on Saturday sent to prison the suspected killer of senior lawyer and politician Abdul Latif Afridi on 14-day judicial remand after he declined to confess to his guilt.

Following completion of his physical custody with the police, suspect Adnan Samiullah Afridi was produced before an anti-terrorism court, which referred him to court of a judicial magistrate for recording his confessional statement.

The suspect was then taken to judicial magistrate Badr Munir, who after fulfilling legal formalities asked the suspect whether he wanted to record his confessional statement or not.

However, the suspect declined to record his confession following which he was sent to prison by the court.

The suspect had been remanded in the custody of police for total of four days by the court. He was arrested from the premises of Peshawar High Court soon after he allegedly fired gunshots at Mr Afridi in a barroom on January 16.

Police produced him before the court amid heavy deployment of personnel in and outside the judicial complex. The suspect was taken to the complex in an armoured personnel carrier. Initially, the FIR registered by the East Cantonment police station had Section 302 (intentional murder) of Pakistan Penal Code, but Section 7 of ATA was added to it afterwards.

During initial interrogation by the investigation team, the suspect confessed to killing Mr Afridi, a former MNA, over a family dispute.

REFERENCE: Peshawar Bar Association (PBA) organsied a condolence reference and Khatm-i-Quran for Late Latif Afridi and other lawyers, who died during the last couple of months.

The reference was attended by the district and sessions judge, Ashfaque Taj, PBA president Ali Zaman, general secretary Akbar Yousaf Khalil, vice president Munsif Saeed, information secretary Ijaz Ali shah and lawyers in a large number.

After Khatm-i-Quran, PBA former president Maulana Shamsul Haq led fateha for the deceased lawyers. He also prayed to Almighty Allah to end enmities among lawyers and other people as those disputes had taken away lives of people in a large number.

Published in Dawn, January 22nd, 2023