Shafqat goes clean-shaven but still can’t hide his age

ISLAMABAD: Shafqat Hussain, the bearded condemned murderer on death row, in a bid to get his “claimed age” matched with his appearance, has gone clean-shaven but jail sources say he has failed to hide his age as he does not look any younger.
Karachi Central Jail sources told The News that when the NGOs propagated about the killer’s age and insisted that Shafqat was a minor, the interior ministry sought a fresh photograph of Shafqat, which was sent to the ministry and was later released to the media. In that photograph, Shafqat sported a long beard. “But after his execution was halted, Shafqat has removed his beard and is now a clean-shaven man”, said the jail sources adding that even without beard he looks much older. Interestingly, his birthday certificate produced by the family was issued on December 24, 2014 (days after the NGOs started ‘save Shafqat’ campaign) and has now been declared fake by a town council of Azad Kashmir.
The NGOs have are a mission to save the killer of seven-year old boy from the gallows by claiming that Shafqat a juvenile at the time of the crime in 2004.
As it appears from the police record, the NGOs failed to do their homework, which not only has dented their credibility but has left also a serious question mark on the functioning and handling of these NGOs. The picture of Shafqat, which the NGOs have been using everywhere, was totally different from the one taken by the police in 2004 in which the killer looked 23-year old and not 14.