Police request interior ministry to put name of accused on ECL

By Shakeel Anjum
July 24, 2021

Islamabad : The request of placing the name of the alleged killer of Noor Mukadam, daughter of a former ambassador, on Exit Control List (ECL) has been submitted to the Ministry of Interior by the police chief of Islamabad and the police have impounded the passport of the accused.

Advertisement

The people witnessed a new hashtag indicating another brutal act of violence against a Pakistani woman. It seems women get no breathing space from the never-ending cycle of violence and every day there is another example of how women are not safe.

Inspector General Islamabad Qazi Jameel-ur-Rehman has directed the investigation team to approach the concerned agencies to put in place the name of the accused in the case of Noor Mukdom in the Exit Control List (ECL), police said.

Noor Mukadam, 27, daughter of Shaukat Mukadam, Pakistan’s former ambassador to South Korea was found murdered at a residence in the posh residential Sector F-7/4 on Tuesday.

Police said she was slaughtered after being shot at. Another person was also injured in the incident.

A friend of the woman, identified as Zahir Zakir, was arrested over his alleged involvement in the brutal killing. The alleged killer is a son of a leading businessman of the country, the police said. Police obtained a three-day remand of the suspect from a local court, while officials said they were investigating the suspect’s motive behind the murder of the woman.

A first information report (FIR) was registered against Zahir under Section 302 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) on the complaint of the victim's father late on Tuesday.

Shaukat Mukadam, in his written complaint, said that he had gone to Rawalpindi on July 19 to buy a goat for Eidul Azha, while his wife had gone out to pick up clothes from her tailor. When he returned home in the evening, the couple found their daughter Noor absent from their house in Islamabad.

They found her cellular phone number to be switched off, and started a search for her. Sometime later, Noor called her parents to inform them that she was travelling to Lahore with some friends and would return in a day or two, according to the FIR, a copy of which is available to ‘The News’.

On Tuesday afternoon, the complainant said he received a call from Zahir, son of Zakir Jaffer, whose family were the ex-diplomat's acquaintances. Zahir informed Mukadam that Noor was not with him, the FIR said.

At around 10 pm the same day, the victim's father received a call from Kohsar Police Station, informing him that Noor had been murdered.

Police subsequently took the complainant to Zahir's house in Sector F-7/4 where he discovered that his “daughter has been brutally murdered with a sharp-edged weapon and beheaded,” according to the FIR.

Mukadam, who identified his daughter’s body, sought the maximum punishment under the law against Zahir for allegedly murdering his daughter.

The police chief also directed obtaining the criminal records of the accused from England and the United States. According to a press note issued from the office of the IGP Islamabad, Qazi Jameel-ur-Rehman had a meeting with the investigation team of the slain Noor Mukadam at the Central Police Office. The meeting was also attended by DIG Operations Afzal Ahmad Kausar, SSP Operation Dr. Syed Mustafa Tanveer, SSP Investigation Ata-ur-Rehman, SP City Zone Rana Abdul Wahab, ASP Kohsar Amna Baig and other officers.

Briefing the IG Islamabad about the progress of the case, the head of the investigation team, SSP Investigation, said that the statements of the victim's parents, the killer's father, and two security guards have been recorded.

A forensic team also provided all the evidence while further investigation is underway to bring the case to a logical conclusion.

The IG said that all the evidence obtained from the incident should be investigated at the forensic lab, adding that the therapy works team should also be met to expedite the case in the light of solid evidence.

Expressing satisfaction over the investigation, the IG Islamabad said that while fulfilling all the requirements of justice, no pressure or recommendation should be taken into account so that the accused could be awarded exemplary punishment.

Inspector General of Police (IGP) Islamabad, Qazi Jamil-ur-Rehman when contacted by this correspondent, said, “There are many questions yet to be answered and the investigation teams have been directed to investigate each and every aspect of the killing. Multiple deep cuts were found on different parts of her slaughtered body,” the IG quoting the preliminary post mortem report said.

A private security guard who witnessed a scene told the police that he saw the victim trying to jump the wall out from the house but someone dragged her into the house. However, the investigation team was inquiring about the case and trying to ascertain the facts.

Advertisement