Appeal to arrest Barrister Fahad Malik’s murderers

LONDON: PTI leader Imran Khan’s friend and London-based businessman Zulfi Bukhari has started a petition on a social media site soliciting public’s help for the arrest and punishment of killers of his brother-in-law Barrister Fahad Malik who was assassinated on Monday night in Islamabad.

The petition titled “Arrest Fahad Malik's Killers” calls on the Islamabad police to arrest the killers and questions how the killers were able to get bails while the police wasted opportunities to arrest them.

Barrister Fahad Malik, a British national, spent most of his life in London and studied law at the Lincoln's Inn but decided to practise in Pakistan. His wife Sakina Bukhari and two children were in London when Barrister Fahad Malik was killed by  gangsters after mediating between two warring factions. Fahad’s younger brother Jawad Malik was also holidaying in London at the time of the killing. Zulfi Bukhari took his sister and kids to Pakistan and Jawad Malik accompanied them. The family has vowed to fight on till justice is done.

In a series of messages posted on a social media site, Zulfi Bukhari wrote: “Our entire family has been ripped apart, my brother-in-law murdered outside the police station #JusticeForFahad.”

He posted pictures of Fahad Malik with his son and daughter and wrote: “Fahad leaves behind 2 beautiful kids & his wife. His only crime? Mediating a conflict between two parties.”

Zulfi Bukhari posted pictures of the alleged gangsters who opened fire on Fahad Malik outside the police station: “We can't bring Fahad back, or make sense of this killing. My sister is shattered, their children heartbroken. Plz pray for them.”

Interior Minister Chauhdary Nisar Ali Khan visited the family home of Fahad malik and promised to bring killers to justice but they remain at large. “Fahad Malik's murder took place in the capital city, a few miles away from the PM house. Why are the lawmakers sleeping?”

Fahad Malik is nephew of ex-chairman Senate MuhammadMian Soomro and son-in-law of Zulfi Bukhari’s father Syed Wajid Bukhari, who was Minister of Environment in Pervez Musharraf’s cabinet. Both families are politically influential and run successful businesses. Mian Soomro and Fahad’s family own lands and businesses and Zulfi Bukhari owns dozens of expensive properties in central London, besides running a high-end property business. 

Although excesses of the mentioned Islamabad gangsters are known to all and sundry and mostly they got away with the murder but this time they have been caught badly on a number of counts: media is putting lots of spotlight on the case for the fact that the murder took place a few hundred metres from the PM office; the families of Fahad Malik are influential and the role of gangsters and how brazenly they act has come to light for the first time.

Every influential politician in Islamabad including Interior Minister Chaudhary Nisar Ali Khan, Imran Khan, Ayaz Sadiq, Khursheed Shah and others have visited the grieving family of Fahad Malik and assured them their full support, calling on the government to arrest the killers.

It is understood that British parliamentarians will also get involved in this case and will raise the matter of Fahad Malik with the Pakistani government.