Abdul Latif Afridi’s murder was a tragedy: CJP Umar Ata Bandial

ISLAMABAD, Jan 17 (SABAH): Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Umar Ata Bandial on Tuesday described the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) former president Lala Abdul Latif Afridi as a heart-rending incident.

During the course of hearing in a case on Tuesday, the CJP Umar Ata Bandial mentioned the incident and inquired from a lawyer whether Abdul Latif Afridi belonged to Kohat. Lawyer Iftikhar Gillani said Latif Afridi belonged to the frontier region and he was killed in the bar room. The incident, he said, had shaken me to the core. The CJP expressed grief and said Latif Afridi’s murder was a tragedy.

Meanwhile the funeral of Abdul Latif Afridi was held at Hayatabad’s Bagh-i-Naran. Ahead of the funeral, a number of politicians, lawyers and other notables, including PHC Chief Justice Qaiser Rashid Khan, arrived at the funeral home. Peshawar Mayor Hajid Zubair Ali, Federal Law Minister Senator Chaudhry Azam Nazeer Tarar Advocate, Supreme Court Bar Association President Abid Shahid Zuberi, Awami National Party Leaders Haji Ghulam Ahmed Bilour, Mian Iftikhar Hussain, Afrasayab Khan Khattak, former governor Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and PML-N leader Engineer Iqbal Zafar Jhagra, Jamat-e-Islami leader and member KP assembly Inayatullah Khan, lawyers’ leaders, politicians and thousands of people attended the funeral prayer.

After the funeral prayer the dead body was dispatched to the native area for burial.

Meanwhile, police presented suspect Adnan Afridi before the court and sought his physical remand. Police told the court that the suspect confessed to murdering Adnan Afridi and claimed that it was a case of enmity.

Police requested the court to grant the suspect’s physical remand for further investigation, which was approved. The court handed over the accused in police custody on two-day physical remand.

The seasoned advocate was shot dead by a man on the Peshawar High Court premises on Monday. The suspect opened fire at him when he was sitting with other lawyers in the bar room. He was injured and taken to the Lady Reading Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Police arrested the suspect and launched a probe into the incident. Preliminary investigation revealed that the suspect fired nine bullets, six of which hit the advocate.

Bar associations in KP, Islamabad and Lahore are observing a day of mourning and strike to mourn the tragedy.