Anti-terrorism clause added to news anchor’s murder case

KARACHI: Police investigators on Wednesday have added anti-terrorism clauses to the murder case of a news channel anchorperson, Mureed Abbas.

The police investigators added the anti-terrorism clause in the First Information Report (FIR) a day after the key suspect, Atif Zaman refused to record his confessional statement.

According to District South Investigations SSP Tariq Dharejo, Section 7 of the anti-terrorism act was added to the FIR as Mureed Abbas’ murder caused panic and harassment among the media industry, besides the suspect also killed Khizar Hayat publicly.

The lawyer representing Abbas’ wife had on July 12 demanded adding Section 7 ATA to the murder case. Legal commentators say 7 ATA should ideally have been added at the time of the registration of the case but doing that 14 days after filing the FIR could prove helpful to the suspect.

Meanwhile, the police has failed to trace and arrest Atif Zaman’s brother, Adnan Zaman alias Adil Zaman, who was allegedly present at the time of the murders. The police has so far also failed to arrest other suspects involved in the business.

Furthermore, Atif Zaman's confessional statement on video came out five days ago which has given a new legal twist to the case.The investigators have also not managed to record the statements of all those who invested hefty amounts in Atif Zaman’s business.

Mureed Abbas a news anchor, and his friend Khizar Hayat were allegedly killed by their business partner Atif Zaman, who also tried to commit suicide.