ATC rejects bail plea of MPA Faisal Zaman

HARIPUR: An Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) here on Friday rejected the bail application of Member Provincial Assembly Faisal Zaman.

The MPA, belonging to a wealthy family reportedly owning ships and known as jahazaan wala due to this link, has been behind the bars since January 11 in the murder case of PTI's local leader Malik Tahir Iqbal and a former councillor Sardar Gul Nawaz.

The two were gunned down by unknown attackers on the night of September 13, 2020 when they were on the way to Ghazi from Kotehra village. Through a four-page written order, the ATC judge, Aurangzeb Khattak, observed that the oral and documentary evidence available on record shows that there was a prima facie case against the accused and he was not entitled to the concession of bail.

Faisal Zaman, elected as MPA from Ghazi tehsil of Haripur district, was the chairman of the standing committee on Human Rights of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly. He was nominated by the family of the two slain men after the confession report of the two alleged hired assassins.

The alleged hired assassins, Sher Ghazi and Rehmatullah, through their statements recorded separately in the court of judicial magistrate under Section 164 CrPc, confessed that they murdered the PTI leader on the order of the MPA who promised to pay them Rs2 million. A total of 11 accused were charged in the first information report (FIR). However, only three, including MPA Faisal Zaman, have been arrested thus far.