ISLAMABAD: Sara Mukadam, the sister of Noor Mukadam who was murdered in a grisly July beheading in Islamabad, has urged the public to support the family in their quest for justice, asking them to “please raise your voice” at a demonstration in Pakistan’s federal capital on September 22, a day before the murder trial commences.
Mukadam, the 27-year-old daughter of a former Pakistani diplomat, was found beheaded at a residence in Islamabad’s upscale F-7/4 neighborhood on July 20 in a case that has sparked public outrage and grabbed media attention unlike any other recent crime against women.
The police arrested the prime accused, Zahir Jaffer, from the crime scene on the day of the murder. His parents and three members of household staff are also under arrest for a range of charges, including abetment and hiding evidence.
“No one in Pakistan, no family should have to go through what we are going through,” Mukadam’s sister Sara said in a video posted on Instagram on Monday.
“To show your support for Noor, please raise your voice for Noor so she gets justice. Please come and stand with Noor,” she said, urging people to attend the demonstration outside the Islamabad Press Club at 4:30pm on Wednesday, September 22.
She said Mukadam was not just her sister but her best friend too and it was very hard to imagine a life without her. “But we can stop this from happening, again,” Sara said.
The demonstration is scheduled for just a day before the start of Mukadam’s murder trial, which was initially set to begin on September 8, but then adjourned until September 23.
Jaffer, who is a US national and belongs to an upper-class family, had reportedly been practicing as a psychotherapist after enrolling in a certification course with Islamabad-based counselling facility, Therapy Works. He was initially on police remand but was moved to Adiala Jail in the city of Rawalpindi on judicial remand in early August.
According to a detailed charge sheet filed by police investigators and seen by Arab News, Jaffer was in touch with his parents before and after the crime. The charge sheet says the Jaffers had “abetted in the murder” and tried to cover it up.
“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of it,” the charge sheet quotes Jaffer’s father as telling him after Mukadam’s beheading. “Our people are coming, they will take you out from there and dispose of the body.”
A five-member team of Therapy Works reached the crime scene on the request of Jaffer’s father to “conceal the crime and destroy the evidence,” the document says.
The arrival of Therapy Works workers confused Jaffer and he stabbed one of them. The man, later identified as Amjad Mahmood, was admitted in Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, where he told doctors he was injured in a road accident.
“This all was an attempt to hide the evidence in the murder,” the charge sheet added.
