AJK judge gunned down during robbery

Bandits open fire at Sardar Ishaq over resistance

RAWALPINDI:

Unidentified robbers shot dead Azad Jammu & Kashmir (AJK) Accountability Bureau’s District & Sessions Judge Sardar Amjad Ishaq over resistance during a house robbery incident in a private housing society within the limits of Rawat police station in the early hours on Tuesday.

Police arrested a wounded suspect who sustained firearm injuries as a result of firing by one of his accomplices during the robbery.

Rawalpindi Regional Police Officer (RPO) Syed Khurram Ali along with Commissioner Liaqat Ali Chattha also reached the house of the deceased judge, offered condolences to his family and assured them that the accused will be arrested soon. Sources said the robbers opened fire on Judge Ishaq as he resisted to free his son from their clutches who had held him, hostage.

According to police, Zafar Ishaq said, in his complaint, that his brother Amjad Ishaq was a Sessions Judge in AJK and was serving in the Muzaffarabad High Court.

“Brother's health was not good and I was visiting him in his house in Phase 8,” the complainant said and added that he was sitting next to his brother in the room when suddenly there was a noise from the TV lounge.

“When we went to the lounge, we saw that three armed robbers were holding my nephew, Ahmed, hostage. One armed robber was standing at the main entrance while another was standing at the door of our room,” he said.

The complainant went on to add that the armed robbers asked them to bring cash and jewellery etc. “During this time, Amjad Ishaq went ahead to rescue his son, Ahmed, prompting the robbers to open fire at him,” he said. “As a result of the firing, he sustained a bullet to his chest and was seriously injured,” he said, adding his brother later succumbed to his injuries.

The complainant said the robber standing at the door also opened fire at his nephew who luckily remained unscathed and instead the bullet hit his accomplice who fell on the ground while four suspects escaped from the spot.

City Police Officer (CPO) Khalid Hamdani took notice of the incident and instructed SP Saddar Nabil Khokhar to reach the spot and get the forensic evidence collected under his watch.

At this, the police collected evidence from the spot and transferred Judge Amjad Ishaq's body for post-mortem and the injured bandit Farhad, who belongs to Gujranwala, to the hospital for medical treatment.

The police registered a case on the complaint of the deceased’s brother under provisions 396 [dacoity with murder] and 302 [punishment of murder] of the Pakistan Penal Code.

On the other hand, the video footage of two armed robbers entering the house by jumping the gate also came to light in which two men wearing masks can be seen entering the house.

The police took the video footage into custody. Police have registered a case and launched an investigation.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, May 31^st, 2023.