-Court grants Noor Mukadam’s father time to arrange counsel
-Accused taken to Lahore for polygraph test
By Uzma Zafar
ISLAMABAD: A local court in Islamabad adjourned on Friday the hearing on the bail pleas of parents of Zahir Jaffer, accused of brutally murdering 27-year-old Noor Mukadam, till August 4.
The accused’s parents, Zakir Jaffer and Asmat Adamjee, are facing a trial for their alleged role in the murder. Adjourning the proceeding, the court ordered the two sides in the case to furnish conclusive arguments on the next hearing. Additional sessions judge Muhammad Sohail heard the bail pleas of the two accused on Friday.
Zakir Jaffer’s counsel Raja Rizwan Abbasi and Adamjee’s counsel Asad Kamal appeared before the court. Kamal told the court that he had arrived from Lahore, saying his client, a woman, had been put behind bars without any justified reasoning.
Speaking on the occasion, Zakir Jaffer’s counsel said that summer vacations were set to start from Monday (August 2), urging the court to schedule the next hearing for tomorrow. However, the judge denied the request. The court inquired about the case’s investigation officer, at which the counsel for the prosecutor, Sajid Cheema, said he was in Lahore at the moment and had the file of the case with him.
Cheema added that the investigation officer was in Lahore for the forensic exam of the incident’s Close-Circuit Television (CCTV) footage. On the occasion, the court approved Noor Mukadam’s father, Shoukat Ali Mukadam’s, plea for more time to arrange a counsel to represent him. The court directed him to submit credentials of his counsel today (Friday) so that it could be made part of the record. On July 28, a sessions court extended the physical remand of Zahir Jaffer to three days. Judicial Magistrate Muhammad Shoaib Akhtar ordered the police to produce the accused before the court on July 31, on expiration of the physical remand. The brutal murder and beheading of Noor Mukadam sparked nationwide outrage with thousands of people calling on the authorities to take the case to its logical end.
