Journalist Ayaz Amir discharged from Sarah murder case.

ISLAMABAD -- An Islamabad district and sessions court on Tuesday discharged senior journalist Ayaz Amir from the murder case of his Canadian national daughter-in-law, Sarah Inam.

The court concluded that there was no evidence against Ayaz in the police diary, as it announced its decision on the police's request to extend the journalist's physical remand by another five days.

The request was made as Ayaz's remand, which was initially extended for a day on Monday (yesterday), expired.

He was arrested on Saturday night for his alleged involvement in the murder case, a day after his son, Shahnawaz Amir, was arrested on allegations of killing his wife at a farmhouse in Shahzad Town in Islamabad, where the latter lived along with his mother.

The senior journalist was presented before Civil Judge Muhammad Amir Aziz today, with police seeking another extension in his remand and his counsel arguing against it.

Ayaz's lawyers, Advocate Basharatullah, Nisar Asghar and Malik Zafran, submitted a wakalatnama (power of attorney) on their client's behalf.

Presenting his arguments, Advocate Basharatullah said the case was registered on September 23, three hours after the incident allegedly occured. He contended that Ayaz had no connection with the case and that police had no evidence against him.

The lawyer said Ayaz was at his residence in Chakwal at the time and he had promptly informed the police.

'Ayaz Amir has no connection with the house [in Shahzad Town] for the past 35 years,' he said, arguing that there was no evidence against the journalist in the police diary. Police, he said, had not been able to satisfy the court regarding the basis of which evidence the journalist was arrested.

He urged the court to discharge Ayaz from the case.

'We are not trying to evade the probe. But they got warrants issued and arrested [Ayaz],' he said.

Countering his arguments, the government's lawyer said points raised by Advocate Basharatullah would be more relevant during the trial. 'At the remand stage, what is to be considered is what evidence has surfaced,' he contended.

'Ayaz Amir had contacted [Shahnawaz] on Whatsapp. This is the evidence we have till now.'

Moreover, the lawyer told the court that if at any point, 'we conclude that he (Ayaz) is innocent, we will discharge him ourselves'.

When the judge asked who had nominated Ayaz in the case, the lawyer replied that Sarah's uncle had nominated in him. The deceased's uncle, he said, was in Pakistan.

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