PESHAWAR: High Court Counsel Razaullah Khan succumbed to his injuries Friday night three days after a gun attack at his office here.
The police appointed the lawyer’s nephew Jaabir as FIR’s gunman and stated a property dispute as the reason for the shooting in the Kali Bari area of Peshawar district.
A Metropolitan Police spokesman told Dawn Razaullah Khan died from serious gunshot wounds while being treated at Lady Reading Hospital.
He said the body was taken to Khyber Medical College for an autopsy.
CCTV footage of the armed attack, which went viral on social media, showed the lawyer in his office receiving multiple bullets from a man standing outside.
Mr. Razaullah was a member of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Bar Council and organizer of Malgari Wakeelan Province, the Lawyers’ wing of the Awami National Party. He was also President of the Peshawar District Bar Association.
In a statement released here, the ANP said the lawyer’s funeral prayers were said in his home village of Pishtakhara, on the outskirts of the city of Peshawar.
Sardar Hussain Babak, Secretary-General of ANP Province, Senator Hidayatullah Khan, Haji Ghulam Ahmad Bilour, Haji Zubair Ali, Mayor of Peshawar City, and numerous people attended the funeral.
In a separate statement, ANP Provincial President Aimal Wali Khan expressed his sadness at the assassination of Razaullah Khan.
He criticized the police for failing to arrest the attacker.
Mr Aimal called for the attacker’s immediate arrest and prompt punishment.
Also, the Peshawar Bar Association held a cabinet meeting with its President, Ali Zaman’s lawyer, and offered Fateha as a lawyer.
In a statement released here, the PBA said it condemned the West Cantonment Police Station station house officer for sharing surveillance video of the gun attack on social media.
It called for the SHO’s suspension over its “irresponsible attitude” and said lawyers were furious that the CCTV footage had gone viral on social media.
The association also expressed anger at the failure of police and other law enforcement agencies to protect lawyer Razaullah, who was deliberately killed in one of the busiest neighborhoods in the provincial capital.
It also skinned the police’s failure to arrest the shooter, raising questions about the force’s efficiency.
Published in Dawn, November 20, 2022
