Noor Mukadam’s father demands death penalty for main accused Jaffer
Noor had ‘left for Lahore’ on July 19 but was found beheaded next day at Islamabad house
Islamabad: The father of Noor Mukadam, the 27-year-old woman who was beheaded last July, has demanded capital punishment for the primary accused Zahir Jaffer.
Shaukat Mukadam, a former ambassador and father of Noor Mukadam, while recording his testimony at a trial court in Islamabad said his daughter was murdered unjustly and Zahir Jaffer should be handed the death sentence for the cold-blooded crime.
Additional Sessions Judge Ata Rabbani had set January 15 as the date for recording the statement of the victim’s father, who is also a petitioner in the case.
Mukadam said he was appearing in a court for the first time in his life and requested the court to overlook any lapses or violation of the court decorum while testifying before a trial court.
He said he did not have personal enmity with anyone but he couldn’t shake off the picture of his daughter in a pool of blood when he was taken to the scene of crime.
Noor, 27, was found murdered at a residence in the capital’s posh residential area, F-7, on July 20, 2021.
A First Information Report (FIR) was registered on the same day against Zahir Jaffer — who was arrested from the site of the murder — under Section 302 (premeditated murder) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) on the complaint of the victim’s father.
Later, the trial court on October 14 indicted Zahir along with 11 others — his parents, their three household staff including Iftikhar (watchman), Jan Muhammad (gardener) and Jameel (cook), Therapyworks CEO Tahir Zahoor and employees Amjad, Dilip Kumar, Abdul Haq, Wamiq and Samar Abbas — in the case.
The trial proceedings formally started on October 20.
Shaukat Mukadam told the court in the testimony that he, along with his wife, had gone for some shopping on July 19 and when they returned in the evening Noor had still not returned, which worried them and they called her but Noor’s mobile was switched off.
Shaukat said it was then that he started searching for her and when Noor finally picked up her phone, she said she was going to Lahore with her friends for a few days and told her parents not to worry.
On the next day, he said Zahir called him in the afternoon and said Noor was not with him.
However, later, the same day at 10pm he got a call from Kohsar police station informing him that his daughter had been killed and the police asked him to visit the police station.
Shaukat said he reached the police station and was taken to a house that belonged to Zahir, adding when he went inside he saw that Noor “had been mercilessly murdered and decapitated”.
He said he identified Noor’s body and gave his signed statement to Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) Zubair Mazhar and later signed off on a report on the cause of death.
Shaukat added he had handed over Noor’s body for a postmortem on July 21. Shaukat Mukadam was cross-examined by counsel for Zahir Jaffer’s father Zakir Jaffer and Therapyworks owner Tahir Zahoor.
Meanwhile, an assistant to Jaffer’s lawyer Sikandar Zulqarnain presented a medical report before the court revealing Jaffer’s lawyer had tested positive for COVID-19. Upon this, the court adjourned hearing until January 17.