MPA Faisal Zaman nominated in PTI leader’s murder case

HARIPUR: The Police and Counter-Terrorism Department here on Thursday conducted raids at the residence and hujra of MPA Faisal Zaman for his arrest after an alleged hired assassin nominated him in the murder case of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) provincial deputy general secretary Malik Tahir Iqbal, police sources said on Thursday.

The sources said that the police had arrested Sher Zaman Ghazi, an alleged hired assassin, in connection with the assassination of Malik Tahir Iqbal. The accused, the sources said, had nominated the MPA in a statement recorded under Section 164 CrPc in the court of judicial magistrate Abbottabad.

The police sources said that the accused had confessed that he had gunned down the PTI leader at the instigation of MPA Faisal Zaman alias Jehazan Wala, who promised to pay him Rs2 million for the task.

The CTD and Police, after the statement of the accused, raided the residence of Faisal Zaman, his hujra, and the house of former district nazim Adil Islam, who is the first cousin of the MPA. However, they failed to arrest the MPA as he was in Peshawar for attending the assembly session and could not be arrested unless the arrest warrants was approved by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly speaker.

MPA Faisal Zaman is the Chairman of the standing committee of the provincial assembly on law, human rights and parliamentary affairs. SHO Ghazi Police Station Khalid Rehman confirmed that his cops and the CTD raided the houses for the arrest of MPA, but failed as he was out of town.

Malik Tahir Iqbal, reportedly close to Prime Minister Imran Khan, was assassinated along with his friend and former councillor Sardar Gul Nawaz on September 13. They were on the way back to Ghazi from Kotehra village after offering Fateha for the departed soul of one of their supporters when they came under attack.

Though the family members of Malik Tahir Iqbal did not nominate anybody in the murder case, they termed the assassination a politically induced incident. MPA Faisal Zaman could not be approached as his mobile phone was switched off.