PESHAWAR, June 1: A local court on Friday granted pre-arrest bail till June 9 to Senator Ilyas Ahmad Bilour and his nephew Usman Bilour, who have been accused of killing People’s Party Parliamentarian’s provincial vice-president Syed Qamar Abbas and his friend Muhammad Ali.

The court directed them to appear before additional district and sessions judge Syed Zamurad Shah for further proceedings on their bail application.

In the same case, the court had granted pre-arrest bail to Awami National Party’s senior vice-president Haji Ghulam Ahmad Bilour, his younger brother and MPA Bashir Ahmad Bilour and the latter’s son Haroon Bilour.

Senator Ilyas and Usman had not applied for bail earlier because they were stated to have been out of the country.

Qamar Abbas and Muhammad Ali were killed on May 6 near the Hasthnagri Railway crossing in Peshawar.

Complainant in the case is Syed Tahir Abbas, a brother the deceased.

The complainant has nominated the three brothers, Haji Ghulam Bilour, a former federal minister, Senator Ilyas Bilour and Bashir Ahmad Bilour, and Mr Bashir’s sons Haroon and Usman.

A panel of lawyers comprising Barrister Zahoorul Haq, Abdul Lateef Afridi, Asadullah Chamkani and Ishtiaq Ibraheem is representing the Bilour family.

Qamar Abbas, and his two guards had earlier been charged with the murder of Shabir Ahmad Bilour, the only son of Haji Ghulam Ahmad Bilour, at a polling station during 1997 general elections. Qamar Abbas was acquitted by the trial court, but no compromise had taken place between the two families.

Muhammad Ali was son of Anwer Ali Akhundzada, a central leader of Tehrik-e-Jaffria Pakistan, who had been killed by some people a few years ago.

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