Rashid says Jaffer’s name will be put on ECL after cabinet’s approval this week
Zubair Qureshi
The district & the session court of Islamabad on Monday extended physical remand of Zahir Zakir Jaffer, the main accused in Noor Mukadam’s brutal murder case, for two more days.
The suspect was produced before the court on Monday upon the expiration of his latest two-day physical remand, which was secured after an initial three-day remand.
His counsel Ansar Nawaz Mirza argued that the police had already had his client remanded for five days, saying a further remand was “unnecessary”.
Jaffer told the court that his life was under threat and he was not being treated well adding that the US Embassy had not contacted him as yet.
According to Jaffer he also holds the US nationality. Meanwhile, case prosecutor Sajid Cheema told the court that four other suspects had also been taken into custody during the investigation.
Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed while addressing a press conference on Monday had said the name of the accused Zahir Zakir Jaffer would be placed on the Exit Control List (ECL) after a formal approval by the federal cabinet in its next meeting, most probably on Tuesday (today).
Rashid said that Jaffer’s name had been added to the “PNIL (Provisional National Identification List) and [travel] blacklist.”
“A summary will be sent to the Cabinet this week to place his name on the ECL. His father and servants have also been added to the blacklist,” the minister said.
“No leeway will be given and [I wish] there was a system in this country under which corrupt people and murderers of women or any common man were quickly hanged,” he added.
Rashid explained that Jaffer’s name had been added to the PNIL and travel blacklist “so that he can’t escape from court”.
Earlier in the hearing, the suspect complained of being unable to hear the courtroom proceedings due to his distance from the judge.
He was present at the far end of the courtroom at the time. Subsequently, the judge took notice and called him near the rostrum.
On July 24, in the case’s last hearing, the prosecutor had told the court that the murder weapon — a knife — along with a pistol and a knuckleduster were recovered from the accused.
Noor, 27, daughter of former Pakistani diplomat Shaukat Mukadam, was found murdered at a residence in Islamabad’s upscale Sector F-7/4 on July 20.
A first information report (FIR) was registered later the same day against Jaffer, who was arrested from the site of the murder, under Section 302 (premeditated murder) of the Pakistan Penal Code on the complaint of the victim’s father.
Police on Monday told the court that a number of sections had been added in the FIR against the suspect.
Islamabad Inspector General of Police Qazi Jamilur Rehman on July 23 had instructed the investigation team probing the brutal killing to seek the placement of the suspect’s name on the Exit Control List.
The Investigators are also seeking the suspect’s criminal record, if any, from the US and the UK.
