Suspect releases video admitting to killing senior lawyer, says he had enmity with Shamsul Islam

Imran Khan Afridi, the man accused of murdering senior Supreme Court lawyer Khawaja Shamsul Islam in Karachi’s Defence area on Friday, has released a video statement in which he has confessed to the killing the lawyer and says he acted out of frustration with the justice system.

In the five-minute video, Afridi appears wearing a blue shalwar kameez closely resembling the attire seen on CCTV during the day of the murder. He begins with a greeting and introduces himself as the son of slain police head constable Nabi Gul Afridi. He stated that he once led a peaceful life but was forced into violence by the repeated injustices faced by his family.

“This was an extreme step I took after being deeply disappointed by the legal system. I was mentally tortured. I had a personal enmity with Khawaja Shamsul Islam, and I alone killed him,” Afridi says in the video. “None of my relatives or friends were involved. I was once a law-abiding Pakistani, but the law’s failure turned me into a criminal.”

Afridi said that four years ago, a financial dispute of Rs3.5 million developed between his father and Shamsul Islam, who were previously friends. He alleged that Shamsul Islam kidnapped his father, kept him in captivity for three months, subjected him to brutal torture, and left him mentally and physically unwell. He further said that his father was falsely implicated in a case and locked up at the Special Investigation Unit Police Station, where he remained in custody for 20 days. After being released on bail, he says his father’s health deteriorated, and a year later, during the month of Ramazan, lawyer Shamsul Islam kidnapped and murdered his father by shooting him in the head.

Despite multiple appeals, Afridi says in the video, his family received no justice. “Shamsul Islam was a powerful man and used his influence to block all legal action. He had also previously been involved in the murder of his driver, Zulfiqar,” the suspect claimed.

Afridi has also accused Shamsul Islam of later implicating him and his entire family in terrorism cases after a minor altercation between the two on 14 November 2024. He says his younger brothers remains in jail to this day although the dispute was solely between him and the lawyer. Afridi further alleges that his complaints against Shamsul Islam and another individual Maulana Ibad-ur-Rehman in the abduction and killing of his father were never acted upon by any agency, despite his father’s status as a serving police officer at the time. He appealed to the authorities to investigate three murder cases -- those of driver Zulfiqar, Head Constable Nabi Gul Afridi and Kashif Ali, a builder from Baloch Colony.

He demands that Maulana Ibad-ur-Rehman and a man named Nasir be taken into custody if the state is serious about solving these cases. Concluding the video, Afridi reaffirms that the murder was a result of deep personal anguish and a loss of faith in the system. “I killed Shamsul Islam myself. My family, friends, and relatives had nothing to do with it,” he says.

Police officials said on Saturday that an FIR has been registered and CCTV footage has also confirmed Imran Khan Afridi’s involvement. In addition, the suspect has confessed to the murder in a video statement, in which he also disclosed the motive. Now, the only task remaining is to trace his location, arrest him, carry out further investigation, and ensure he is brought to justice, they said.

The investigators have taken into custody two brothers-in-law of the suspect. “We will hunt him down one way or another. The arm of the law is long and strong. Retribution will be his,” Zone South DIG Asad Raza told The News.

Police have registered a case at the Darakhshan Police Station in connection with the murder of senior Supreme Court lawyer Khawaja Shamsul Islam, who was gunned down in Karachi’s Defence area on Friday.

According to a copy of FIR obtained by The News, the FIR (No 593/25) has been lodged on the complaint of the victim’s brother, Khawaja Faizul Islam, and includes serious charges such as murder, terrorism, and other penal sections. As per the FIR, Shamsul Islam had gone to the Quran Academy located on Khayaban-e-Rahat, along with his two sons Daniyal Islam and Hamza Islam and a private security guard, to attend Friday prayers and a funeral. Following the funeral prayers, while putting on his shoes at the stairs inside the mosque, he was attacked by Afridi, who fired two shots from a firearm, one hitting Shamsul Islam and the other injuring his son Daniyal Islam. The attacker fled the scene immediately after the shooting.

Police have nominated seven individuals, including Afridi and his brother Inam, in the FIR.