ABBOTTABAD: Unknown assailants on Wednesday gunned down Afzal Kohistani, a young man pursuing Kohistan honour killing case in the Supreme Court.
According to reports, unidentified gunmen opened fire on Afzal in Gami Addah area Abbottabad, resulting in his death along with injuries to two passersby.
Muhammad Afzal Kohistani, the brother of one of the boys in the video, was the one who made the news public, alleging that the girls had been killed on May 30, 2012 on the orders of a cleric who led a 40-50 member tribal jirga.
In 2011, Kohistan case had emerged came to light in 2011 when reports emerged that an online video of a young man dancing before a group of teenage girls had led to murder. Five girls in the audience, as well as the man who was dancing and his two brothers, were allegedly murdered on a jirga’s orders.
On July 31, 2018, a new case was registered under Palas police station under the Supreme Court orders.
In December 2018, the four suspects namely Umar Khan, Saber, Mohamad Sarfraz and Saeer were arrested. Upon interrogation, the suspects had confessed to killing three girls Begum Jan, Sireen Jan and Bazgha by firing, saying they disposed of the bodies in Nala Chorh. They had said that Amna and Shaheen are still alive and will be presented before the court.
Kohistan District Police Officer Iftikhar Khan had said that raids are underway to arrest eight suspects who produced other girls for fake identification. Afzal, however, said that the suspects are lying. “They killed all five girls by severe torture and are not identifying graves as it will reveal their brutality,” he added.
Former chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry had taken a suo motu notice of the case on June 7, 2012, and constituted a fact-finding mission on July 17, 2012, to investigate the case.
The commission went to Kohistan and investigated the matter, producing a report on July 20, 2017, which stated that the girls were alive. The case was closed when the court established the girls were alive. However, one of the commission members, Dr Farzana Bari expressed her doubts that the girls weren’t the same and some other girls were produced clad in burqa and veil. When the case was appealed to be reopened, the apex court ordered NADRA to match fingerprints and CNICs. The tests came back negative.
