Pakistani lawyer and human rights activist Abdul Latif Afridi was shot multiple times, apparently by one gunman, on the Peshawar High Court premises, police official Kashif Abbasi told Reuters (news agency).
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the killing and expressed his grief and sorrow. "I pray that the bereaved family bear this loss with fortitude. The worsening law and order situation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is alarming," Prime Minister Sharif said in a tweet.
He was the former president of Pakistan Supreme court bar association and knows for his vocal critics of both the military and Islamist militants. He was also the key figure at the forefront of the lawyers' movement in Pakistan that culminated in the restoration of former Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry.
On Monday he was shot dead by the trainee lawyer, who open fired at him, while Abdul Latif Afridi was sitting in the bar room at the Peshawar High Court. He was immediately shifted to the lady reading hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival, a spokesperson Muhammad Asim said.
The suspect has been identified as Adnan Sami Afridi, not related to the deceased Afridi. "We have arrested the culprit from the crime scene," he said, adding that the suspected shooter had dressed as a lawyer to gain entry to the court premises.
The accused haven’t tried to fly from the crime scene after assassinating the senior lawyer, said by the lawyers presented at the premise during that time. Six bullets were fired at Afridi, Asim said.
Adnan Sami Afridi has shifted to the anti-terrorism court under tight security. Police suspected the attack was carried out of "personal enmity".
Security arrangements at the court has previously been questioned, especially after a teenage boy shot and killed a U.S. national of Pakistani origin who was on trial on blasphemy charges inside the courtroom in 2020.
Though a heavy police contingent is deployed at the Peshawar court, lawyers are not body searched on entry. Police officers examine the crime scene following a shooting incident on the premises of the Peshawar High Court in Peshawar.
Peshawar Bar Association President Ali Zaman has announced a two-day boycott of courts across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province to protest Afridi's murder.
In 1979, Afridi was imprisoned by former Pakistan President General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq for participating in political activities against his regime's martial law.
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