Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed said the man accused of Noor Mukadam’s murder could not be killed in a police encounter.
Addressing a press conference in Islamabad on Monday, the minister said all evidence related to the case have been gathered "but we can’t get the murderer killed in the encounter,” adding that the culprit would be sentenced.
Noor, 27, was beheaded on July 20 at the house of Jaffer in F-7 area of Islamabad, according to the police. She was the daughter of former ambassador to South Korea and Kazakhstan, Shaukat Mukadam.
Earlier today, a local court in Islamabad sent Jaffer to prison till August 16 on judicial remand.
Responding to a question about alleged abduction of Afghan envoy’s daughter in the federal capital, Ahmed said an Afghan investigation team reached Islamabad and the police officials were being directed to hand over inquiry report to the neighbouring country’s team.
The minister also talked about the security during Muharram which will start next week, saying peace will be maintained during the month.
“An important meeting has been convened on Thursday regarding the security in Muharram,” he said, adding the government issued directives related to security in the country.
During the briefing, the minister also announced abolishing encroachments over nullahs in Islamabad which resulted in urban flooding during the recent monsoon rains and subsequently killing of two people.
“The directives have been issued to the Capital Development Authority chairperson that all encroachments on nullahs should be cleared till August 30,” Rashid said, lamenting the fact that Islamabad didn’t have 1122 service which could provide rescue service during the flooding in Sector E-11.
The minister also briefed on border management with Afghanistan after the completion of US troops pull out from the war-torn country by the end of August.
“Pakistan Army has fenced the border area with Afghanistan and no refugees will enter in the country,” he said, denying the presence of Afghan Taliban in the country.
Meanwhile, the minister also talked about online visa system and said thousands of people residing in the country without visas should apply for it online as the process was introduced to eliminate corruption from the system.
“People have been granted a one-month deadline to apply for online visa. After that they have to leave the country,” he said.
During his press conference, Rasheed also criticised the policies of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, saying the party faced an internal fight over the narratives of “N” and “S” referring to the brothers Nawaz and Shehbaz — representing resistance and compromise.
“The government is ready for talks if Shehbaz Sharif wants to forget past and initiate dialogue,” he said, citing the recently aired interview of PML-N president and leader of opposition in the National Assembly on Geo TV.
