PESHAWAR, Aug 10: Son of the murdered philanthropist Malik Attaullah demanded of the NWFP government on Saturday to order police for arresting the killers of his father.
Attaullah was allegedly gunned down on June 26, by a former MPA from Nowshera, Akora Khattak.
Speaking at a news conference here at the Peshawar Press Club, Bilal Ahmed, son of the late philanthropist and chief of the Al-Khair Haqooq-ul-Ibad Welfare Trust, alleged that the police were protecting the murderers— ex-MPA Jan Mohammad Khattak and his nephew Khalil Abbas.
Bilal said the killers had pumped 70 bullets in the body of Malik in broad-day light and fled.”We have nominated Jan Mohammad and Abbas Khalil as the killers in the FIR, but Nowshera SSP Feroz Shah and Investigation DSP Abur Rauf are making all efforts to prove the criminals as innocent”, he added.
Bilal told the newsmen that instead of arresting the killers, the police officials were persuading the victim’s family to desist from cultivating an enmity with Khattak. “The police have become a party with the killers and were providing them allout protection”, he alleged.
He also said the police had plainly refused to lay hands on the influential murderers of his father.”Some relatives of killers, Col Akram Khan (Rtd) and Masood Abbas, have conveyed us not to waste our time as the police will not arrest them”, he added.
The killers, he alleged, were threatening also him of dire consequences.”If I or any member of my family is killed; Masood Abbas, Akram Khan and Shakeel Abbas will be responsible for his death”, he added.
He demanded of President Gen Pervez Musharraf, NWF governor and Peshawar corps commander to take the note of injustices meted out to them at the hands of the police and killers of Malik Atta.
Bilal Ahmed said the police were playing the same dubious role as it had played six months ago when his father had been attacked and wounded by the henchmen of the killers.
Malik Attaullah himself also had requested the NWFP governor six months ago — on Feb 14,2002— at a press conference, to “provide him protection from Jan Mohammad Khattak”.
SMUGGLING BID FOILED: The capital city police seized smuggled cloth and auto spare-parts worth millions of rupees near here on Saturday.
Talking to newsmen at Central Police Line, SP (Rural) Iftikhar Ahmed said the police had received an information that foreign-made cloth and spare-parts would be smuggled from Frontier Region, Peshawar, to Nowshera via Urmer on the outskirts of Peshawar. A police party rushed to the area and set up a checkpoint.
The party stopped four trucks coming from the Frontier Region. But the truck drivers refused to allow the party to check their vehicles. This led to a scuffle in which a constable also received injuries.
However, police party managed to overpower smugglers, while a few of their companions fled. Five people, including the truck drivers, were arrested. They included Mohammad Ayaz, Jauhar Ali, Karim and Taj Mohammad, while the name of the fifth accused could not be ascertained. Three trucks, (GLT-1225, GLT-1050 and K-3649 Peshawar) were impounded.