Pashto singer Ghazala Javed’s ex-husband sentenced to death

Given the sentence twice for the murder of the Pashto singer and her father.

SWAT: One and a half year after renowned Pashto singer Ghazala Javed’s untimely demise, the district and sessions court on Monday awarded the death sentence twice to her husband Jehangir Khan on charges of murder.

On June 18, 2012 Ghazala was shot dead along with her father in Mohallah Nuo, Dabgari, Peshawar. Her younger sister, Farhat Javed later filed an FIR with the police, accusing Jehangir and his friends, Salam and Naseer, of killing Ghazala and her father. She told the police Ghazala had a dispute with Jehangir, from whom she had sought a divorce only six months after marriage.

The verdict was delivered by District and Sessions Judge Muhammad Tariq Pervaiz Baloch, who handed the penalty to the accused, a resident of Hindki Daman, Peshawar.

The punishment was given on three counts, including twice execution till death, a fine of Rs50 million and Rs20 million for the two murders, and Rs1 million fine and 10 years imprisonment. On the occasion, Jehangir was accompanied by a large number of his relatives.

Though Salam and Naseer are still at large since the murder last year, Jehangir was arrested on August 29, 2012 from his house. On November 3, 2012, Peshawar District and Sessions Judge Shahbar Khan pronounced the charges against him. The case was later transferred to Swat after Javed’s family received threats.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 17^th, 2013.