Bail denied to accused in ISI ex-director’s murder case

PESHAWAR: An Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) dismissed on Monday the bail petition of a suspected militant arrested and charged with the murder of a former director of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

The ATC judge Salim Jan Khan dismissed the bail petition of Makail Mehmood, who, the police said, was arrested along with a motorcycle used in the attack on former director of the ISI, Professor Abdul Lateef.

During the hearing of the bail petition, the public prosecutor submitted that the militant was involved in the murder. He submitted that the accused belonged to Akora Khattak in Nowshera district and was a member of a banned militant organisation.

The Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD), he said, had arrested the accused from Hayatabad in Peshawar on April 2 along with the motorcycle used in the attack.The prosecutor stated that the CTD had also arrested Haris Naseem, codenamed Khalid and the nephew of the slain official, from Hayatabad for his role in the murder. The CTD Peshawar, through an official communiqué, had claimed that Haris Naseem had joined a terrorist organisation in 2009 and had been arrested from Hayatabad.

During investigation, the accused had disclosed that the murder plan was finalised in Hayatabad.It said the accused and his accomplices executed the mission to kill Abdul Lateef. “The arrested terrorist disclosed the names of his accomplices, including Makail Mehmood,” it said.

The former director of the ISI was shot dead by unknown armed men in Phase-VI Hayatabad on March 22 this year. As per the police officials, Abdul Lateef had come to visit his brother in Hayatabad where he was fired at by the unidentified motorcyclists.

The police said the deceased belonged to Tehkal and was currently living in Hayatabad Phase-VII. He was also a professor and was teaching at the private sector Qurtaba University.The police said the 61-year old Abdul Lateef had retired as a regional director from the ISI some three years ago. He had served on key positions, including first secretary in Pakistan’s embassy in Afghanistan in the 1990s.Police said the deceased was recently appointed as the dean of a university in Mazar-i-Sharif in Afghanistan and was finalizing plans to join the university.