News
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
AJK chief justice shot and wounded
* Justice Ghulam Mustafa Mughal attacked while taking an evening walk
* Receives one bullet in his abdomen g President Zardari condemns attackMUZAFFARABAD/ISLAMABAD: Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) High Court Chief Justice (CJ) Ghulam Mustafa Mughal was seriously injured in an attack here on Tuesday, police said.
Deputy Superintendent Police (DSP) City Yaseen Baig told APP that the CJ was strolling at AJK University’s recreation ground near his residence when an unidentified person fired at him and managed to escape.
“He was on his evening walk at the university campus. Someone hiding in the bushes opened fire on him. He received one bullet in his abdomen,” police official Riaz Abbasi told AFP by telephone.
“He was immediately shifted to the Combined Military Hospital where he underwent an operation and his condition is stated to be stable,” Baig added.
Baig said the CJ was walking without security guards when he was attacked.
He said police had cordoned off the area to trace the culprit.
Police said motive for the attack was unclear.
“At the moment, we cannot say whether it’s terrorism or some type of enmity. We have cordoned off the area and launched a search operation,” said Abbasi.
“The CJ’s family has not received any threat from anybody nor they have enmity with anyone,” he added.
Senior minister Chaudhry Yasin told a private news channel that the shooting was under investigation.
Police said Mughal left his driver and guard outside the recreation ground where he began his evening walk.
Chief Justice of Supreme Court of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Justice Muhammad Azam Khan on Tuesday ordered the inspector general of police to arrest the accused involved in assault on the AJK High Court Chief Justice, Justice Ghulam Mustafa Mughal within 24 hours.
Talking to APP, Muhammad Azam Khan said that a high-level inquiry would be conducted to find those behind the gruesome incident.
He strongly condemned the attack on the chief justice.
He said it was the first incident of attack on judiciary in AJK’s history. “It is a severe incident and an attempt to destabilise the judiciary in AJK,” he added.
Meanwhile, President Asif Ali Zardari has strongly condemned the attack on Mughal in Muzaffarabad.
The president has directed the concerned authorities to submit a report about the incident.
He also prayed for the early recovery of Mughal, who was immediately shifted to a hospital in Muzaffarabad after the attack.
In Rawalpindi, the judge who sentenced to death the killer of liberal politician Salmaan Taseer was transferred to Lahore after his courtroom was ransacked following the verdict.
Police bodyguard Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri had confessed to the January 4 assassination because Taseer opposed blasphemy laws which sentence to death those convicted of defaming the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH).
Lawyers, supporters of Qadri, ransacked Judge Pervez Ali Shah’s courtroom after this month’s sentencing.
Following media reports that Shah had fled abroad, a spokesman for the Lahore High Court said Tuesday that he had taken temporary leave in order to go on pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia. agencies
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk