PESHAWAR, Nov 27: The Peshawar High Court on Monday confirmed the pre-arrest bail of NWFP Health Minister Inayatullah Khan in a murder case.

The bench of Justice Qaim Jan Khan directed the petitioner to furnish two sureties amounting to Rs500,000 each.

The bench dismissed a petition filed for the cancellation of bail granted to a former MPA and brother of the minister, Anwarullah Khan, by a subordinate court in Nowshera.

An additional district and sessions judge in Nowshera had dismissed the pre-arrest bail petition of Mr Inayat on Oct 11. However, he did not surrender to police and instead moved the high court and filed the instant petition. He was granted interim bail on Oct 12.

Mr Inayat and Mr Anwar, belonging to the Jamaat-i-Islami, were accused by their relative, Hayat Khan, of killing his father Jehanzeb Khan in the jurisdiction of Azakhel police station on Sep 2, 2006. The deceased was social security officer.

The complainant alleged that they had property dispute with the accused. He also alleged that two hired assassins had fired on Jehanzeb Khan which resulted in his death. He accused the minister and Anwar of having hired the assassins.

The accused were charged under section 302, 324, 109 and 34 of Pakistan Penal Code.

Barrister Zahoorul Haq appeared for the petitioner, and contended that he had been falsely implicated in the case with malafide intentions. He argued that the petitioner was linked to the murder because of old enmity and property dispute whereas there was no evidence on record which could connect him and the offence.

Mr Haq argued that the complainant, Hayatullah, had charged unidentified assassins with firing at the deceased man and the only role attributed to the petitioner was that the deceased was killed at his behest. He added that the circumstantial evidence did not suggest the petitioner’s involvement.

He argued that even the two unknown assassins had not been arrested and, therefore, it was not possible to ascertain the real motive of the offence and on whose instance they had acted.