Haripur (Staff Report): An anti-terrorism court has remanded a Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s female councillor and her alleged accomplice for a journalist’s murder in Hazara region of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Hina Akhtar, a PTI councillor on a reserved seat from Haripur, and Hanif Akhtar, have confessed to orchestrating the murder of Bakhshish Elahi, who was the bureau chief of an Urdu newspaper.
The journalist was targeted by unidentified motorcyclists near Lora Chowk of Haripur city when he was heading to work.
According to the prosecution, Hina, who had personal differences with Elahi, contacted Hanif, who too is a journalist and the bureau chief of another Urdu newspaper. Hanif told Hina that he also wanted Elahi “out of the way”.
In her statement before the magistrate, the PTI councillor said she had offered to pay Rs0.5 million to Hanif to have Elahi assassinated. She paid him Rs0.1 million and promised to pay the rest of the money later.
The judicial magistrate transferred the case to an anti-terrorism court, which remanded Hanif in the custody of the counter-terrorism department for three days.
