PESHAWAR, Jan 22: A local court on Thursday indicted provincial Senior Minister Bashir Ahmad Bilour and three others for an election-related murder of a member of the Pakistan People’s Party.

Mr Bilour and the other accused, Noor Mohammad, Irshad Ali and Sajjad Ali, pleaded not guilty and decided to stand trial.

The court of additional district and sessions judge Ahtesham Ali fixed Jan 30 for next hearing and summoned all the prosecution witnesses for that date.

The court also accepted an application of Mr Bilour and exempted him from personal appearance in the trial due to security reasons. Strict security measures were adopted in the sessions court by deploying a large number of policemen to avert any untoward happening.

Two of the accused, Bashir Bilour and Noor Mohammad, are on bail as their pre-arrest bail petitions were accepted in February last whereas the rest of two are in prison. The deceased, Abdul Wahab, was a close relative of Mohammad Iqbal of the PPP, who had lost against Mr Bilour in the of PF-3 constituency, Peshawar, during the Feb 18 general election.

Advocates Asadullah Khan Chamkani and Arbab Aziz Ahmad appeared for the defence. They requested the court to exempt Mr Bilour from personal appearance. Citing security reasons, the counsel contended that he was a senior minister and his regular attendance could create law and order situation. They stated that he had already survived a suicide bombing targeting him near the Peshawar Sports Complex on Nov 11.

In the occurrence, initially a woman passing by was killed and three people received injuries when workers of the ANP and the PPP clashed near Sarki Gate on Dec 2, 2007. Later, a critically injured person, Abdul Wahab, also died in the hospital.