Pakistan News:

Qadri to be indicted on Feb 1

Daily Times, pakistan.

RAWALPINDI: An anti-terrorism court will formally indict Malik Mumtaz Qadri – the self-confessed killer of late Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer – on February 1 after Kohsar police submitted their investigation report to the court. 

ATC-II Special Judge Raja Ikhlaq Ahmed, hearing the case in Adiala Jail, distributed the copies of the police report to the Elite Force constable and his lawyers and said on the next date of hearing, the accused would formally be indicted. 

The court expressed surprise over the absence of any prosecution lawyer and directed the investigators to ensure the presence of a prosecution lawyer on the next hearing. 

The case was transferred from ATC-I to the court-II. The trial of the accused will be held in the jail owing to security reasons. In its investigation report, police had mainly relied on the confessional statement of Qadri, who had admitted to killing Taseer on January 4 after he was instigated by speeches of two prayer leaders in his locality of Muslim Town on December 31. He said he was angry over the remarks of the late governor about the country’s blasphemy law. 

The authorities have cited about 40 prosecution witnesses in the investigation report, as a majority of the witnesses that are included are the security guards of Taseer, officers of the Islamabad police and the doctors who carried out the postmortem of the late governor. 

khalid bin majeed

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