Family to pardon Asma Rani’s killer on Sept 5

Marwat Qaumi Jirga to boycott ceremony

LAKKI MARWAT:

Marwat Qaumi Jirga has decided to boycott the ceremony to be held next Sunday in which the family of the slain medical student Asma Rani will pardon her assassin Mujahid Afridi.

The pardoning decision has already been taken by the Jirga but it would be formally announced on Sunday in Kohat by the family.

Asma Rani, a third year MBBS Student at Ayub Medical College, was killed in cold blood in Kohat on January 28, 2018 when her family reportedly refused the marriage proposal of the accused Mujahid Afridi. After committing the crime the main accused Mujahid Afridi and his aide Sadiq fled. Sadiq was arrested soon but Muhahid fled to Dubai where his family has a large business.

On Jun 25, a district and sessions court in Peshawar announced its verdict in the murder case, sentencing the prime accused to death.

Read More: Court sentences Asma Rani murder accused to death

District and Sessions Judge Ashfaq Taj handed down the death sentence to Mujahidullah Afridi but acquitted two other accused, Siddiqullah and Shahzeb. The judge delivered his judgment at a court set up at the Central Jail Peshawar in view of security concerns.

In a video statement recorded before her death, the victim had identified Afridi as the assailant.

The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) police had later arrested Afridi with the help of Interpol from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), where he had fled after committing the crime. The case was later transferred from Kohat to Peshawar on the orders of the Peshawar High Court (PHC).

On July 30, 2020, a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court ordered the authorities to hold the trial for Asma's murder in a regular court, rather than an anti-terrorism court (ATC).

On Tuesday Marwat Qumi Jirga rejected the compromise reached between the Asma Rani and Mujahid family on the ground that the decision had been taken by the family on its own.

“Soon After the death of Asma, her father approached us and we helped him in protest and everything which put pressure on the government and police as a result the accused was arrested from UAE. But now when the accused was convicted by the court the family decided to act on its own and pardon him which is not acceptable. We are being accused of taking bribe,” said the head of the Jirga Alhaq Muhammad Aslam Khan while talking to The Express Tribune, adding that since they were in constant contact with the victim’s family from the day first but completely ignored afterwards so they would boycott the ceremony.

It is worth mentioning here that the decision of pardoning the accused is being critcised widely on social media.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 1^st, 2021.