PESHAWAR: An anti-terrorism court here on Wednesday sent to prison on 14-day judicial remand a civil judge arrested on charges of abetting the killing of senior lawyer and politician Abdul Latif Afridi early this year.

The suspect, Abdul Majid Afridi, was produced before the court amid tight security by the local police.

The suspect was charged by the family members of Mr Latif Afridi under section 109 of the Pakistan Penal Code accusing him of abetting the offence.

The local police claimed that the suspect had himself appeared before the police for his arrest. Few days ago, the court had granted bail to three of the co-accused in the case, including Adil Khan Advocate, Fawad and Zakir.

The prime accused, Adnan Samiullah Afridi, was arrested from the high court’s premises soon after he allegedly fired at Mr Latif Afridi in a bar room on Jan 16.

Initially, the FIR registered by the East Cantonment police station had included section 302 (intentional murder) of the Pakistan Penal Code. However, Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act was added to it afterwards.

During initial interrogation, the accused, Adnan had admitted to killing Mr Afridi, a former MNA, over a family feud. He, however, changed his statement during his subsequent appearance before the magistrate.

The present suspect, Majid Afridi is stated to be son of an ATC judge Aftab Afridi, who was killed when he came under a gun attack near Ambar Interchange on April 4, 2021, when he was travelling in his vehicle with his family on the Peshawar-Islamabad Motorway.

The ambush had also killed the judge’s wife and his pregnant daughter-in-law along with her three-year-old son and injured his guard and driver.

In that case, Mr Latif Afridi was also charged for abetment along with six other accused persons. However, a court in Swabi had acquitted all the accused in that case.

Published in Dawn, April 27th, 2023