Police claim arresting accused as Kohistani buried

MANSEHRA: The Kolai-Palas police claimed to have arrested one of the three accused who allegedly killed Mohammad Afzal Kohistani as he was laid to rest in Alai area on Friday.

“We have arrested the main suspect in the murder of Afzal Kohistani. We seized two Kalashnikovs from his possession,” Iftikhar Khan, District Police Officer Kolai-Palas told reporters.

He said that the police conducted a raid at Gadar, a mountainous part in the district, and arrested Mohammad Masoom and shifted him to the police station. “We are after the two more suspects who have been nominated in the murder of Afzal Kohistani and they would soon be arrested,” said Iftikhar Khan.

Meanwhile, Afzal Kohistani was laid to rest in Allai in Battagram district. A large number of local people, villagers and family member attended his funeral prayer. The jirga that had ordered the killing of five women who were seen clapping in a video that had gone viral also dubbed Afzal Kohistani ‘a thief liable to be killed’ under local customs along with his three brothers.

In November last year, the Kohistan police had arrested four family members of the five women who were seen clapping in the controversial video in May 2012.