Illegal possession of arms: Court issues arrest warrants for Mustafa Kanju

Judicial Magistrate Akram Azad orders police to present accused Kanju before the court

LAHORE: A judicial magistrate on Thursday issued arrest warrants for Mustafa Kanju, son of former Minister of Foreign Affairs Siddique Kanju, for possessing illegal arms.

On April 1, 2015 Mustafa allegedly opened fire on a vehicle near Lahore’s Cavalry Ground area, killing 16-year-old Zain and leaving a pedestrian injured. However, he was acquitted by an anti-terrorism court for the lack of evidence.



Judicial Magistrate Akram Azad has now ordered North Cantt Police to arrest Kanju and present him before the court.

During the course of proceeding, investigation officer of the North Cantt police station appeared before the court and submitted that the case against Kanju is registered at his police station for possessing an illegal Kalashnikov. The weapon was also allegedly used in Zain murder case, he added.

A prosecutor appearing before the court submitted that Kanju never appeared before the court to prove his innocence in this matter. He prayed the court to issue arrest warrants for him.



Earlier on December 15, a division bench of Lahore High Court (LHC) reserved its verdict on maintainability of the Punjab government’s appeal against the acquittal of Mustafa Kanju in Zain murder case.

Concluding his argument on the admissibility of the appeal before the bench headed by Justice Shahid Hameed Dar, Prosecutor General Ehtesham Qadir Shah said the trial court had decided the acquittal application of the respondent (Kanju) in haste without examining facts of the case. He said the trial court did not record statements of police witnesses who had recovered a Kalashnikov, the murder weapon, from the suspect. He said the trial court had accepted the acquittal application of the suspect solely on the basis of some prosecution witnesses’ retraction of their statements. He said that complainant had expressed his satisfaction over police performance and cooperation in a meeting with the chief minister.