In a quite shocking development in the murder case of former Pakistan’s envoy’s daughter Noor Mukaddam, main accused Zahir Jafar, who had earlier confessed to having killed Noor, however in his statement submitted to a District and Sessions Court on Wednesday, retracted from that confession and said that it was not he but somebody else who had murdered her at his home in Islamabad, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

Zahir had been handed a questionnaire by the court on the last date of the hearing.

Reading out the answers given by his client, his counsel Usman Gul told the court that Noor and Zahir had not met each other for the last six months and she was never kidnapped. “She had come to Zahir’s home on July 18, 2021 of her own free will,” he said, and added even the marks found on the weapon used in the girl’s murder did not match with his client’s fingerprints.   

He went on to add that the pistol recovered from the scene was a licensed one.

The main accused’s lawyer further said that Zahir was alone at his home in the days preceding July 20, 2021 since his parents and other family members had gone to Karachi to celebrate Eid. “Noor had thrown a drugs party on July 20 at my home. I, Noor and other friends excessively consumed drugs at the party due to which I lost my consciousness,” Zahir said in his statement, adding that finally when he regained consciousness after several hours, he found that he was in the lounge and was tied with ropes.

After some time, he added, policemen and some men in plainclothes came to rescue him. “And they later told me that somebody in the party had killed Noor,” the main accused elaborated.    

Zahir argued that the reason why the DNA test had turned out to be positive was because he and the victim girl were in physical contact with each other of their own free will.  

Zahir alleged in his statement that he had been falsely implicated in the case because Shaukat Mukadam, the petitioner in the case and Noor’s father, was a man of influence. “The reason why I was blamed for the murder was because the incident had taken place at my home,” he explained.

Reporter: Ihtesham Kiani