The son of a former ISI official who was abducted and killed by militants has filed an application with the Pakistani police in which he has held popular TV anchor Hamid Mir and a Punjabi Taliban leader responsible for the murder.
Osama Khalid, the son of slain ISI official Khalid Khwaja, filed the application for the registration of an FIR at Shalimar police station in Islamabad, which has jurisdiction over the area in which Mir lives.
He sought the registration of an FIR under section 302 of the Pakistan Penal Code, which relates to murder. In the application, he alleged that Mir supplied “wrong information” about his father to Punjabi Taliban leader Usman Punjabi and instigated him to kill his father. Mr Osama also nominated the Asian Tigers and its members in his application. The Asian Tigers, a hitherto unheard of militant group, had claimed responsibility for kidnapping and killing Khwaja. Deputy superintendent of police Naeem Iqbal said the police were considering the possibility of registering a case.
However, a final decision would be made after analysing the legal aspects of the case, he said. Mr Osama said he hoped that he would get justice.
“All material, including the tape of a conversation between Hamid Mir and Usman Punjabi, has been handed over to the police. We will also provide some sensitive material to the police at an appropriate time because it involves matters of national interest,” he said. He vowed that he would expose Mir’s “deep relations with Taliban militants”.
Mir has been at the centre of a controversy after a recording of a purported conversation between him and a Punjabi Taliban leader was leaked on the Internet earlier in May.