Woman ‘undeterred by trolls’ in quest for father’s murderer

Says 'vicious campaign' on social media started soon after suspect's arrest

KARACHI:

A UAE-based Pakistani woman, who helped authorities arrest the main accused in her father's murder, says she is a victim of a 'vicious social media campaign' that started soon after the arrest.

Maham Amjad, who works in fashion and real estate in Dubai, says more than 300 accounts on various social media platforms have been targeting her. It happened days after Interpol arrested Syed Taqi Haider Shah, she said, adding that these accounts were defaming and threatening her. "The concerned authorities have been informed about the threats and they are investigating," she said.

Twenty nine-year-old Maham's father Mohammad Ahmed Amjad was the regional chief for the Sindh and Balochistan regions at State Life Insurance Company. He was shot dead on August 26, 2008 at the head office located on II Chundrigar Road. The police complaint says that Amjad was investigating corruption allegations against Shah, who was a sales manager there.

The daughter has maintained that her father was killed by Shah. She says the State Life management refused to assist the family in filing a police report. An FIR was eventually registered at the Mithadar police station, with Amjad's assistant the witness who identified Shah as the murderer.

Maham said that several attempts to contact the State Life management to provide evidence related to the murder had also failed, while the original file in the police record had gone 'missing'.

She said that at the time of the murder, she was only 15, while her elder was 19 and her mother was a housewife. "We were under constant threat. Three years after the murder, we had to relocate to Lahore and we lived there under a presumed identity," she said.

But things have changed now and Maham is leading a vocal social media campaign to get justice for her father's murderer.

Digital sleuth

She was instrumental in the suspect's arrest also, having found Shah's profile on networking site LinkedIn. The profile contained his work experience, which coincided with the time her father worked there.

She then contacted her father's friend who told her that it was the same Taqi Haider Shah responsible for her father's gruesome murder.

She shared the details with relevant authorities, including in Pakistan, that resulted in an Interpol 'red notice' and subsequent arrest.

Following the arrest, Maham had said on social media that the extradition process was being delayed unnecessarily. Police have since said that they have submitted the required documents for Shah's extradition.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 27^th, 2023.