Former director of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Peshawar and ex-member estate Capital Development Authority (CDA), Brigadier Asad Munir (retd), Friday is said to have committed suicide.
According to police sources, Munir's wife found his body hanging from ceiling fan in the study room at his flat No 3, located at Executive Suites, Diplomatic Enclave. "Munir used to watch TV in his study room till late night. When he did not come to the living room till late Friday night, I went to see him at study room but found his body hanging from ceiling fan and called cook," the police quoted the wife of the deceased as saying.
National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on March 14 decided to file a corruption reference against Munir. The deceased was deeply upset after knowing that the NAB was filing a reference against him, the police sources said while quoting the bereaved family.
They said the deceased also left note purportedly written by him addressed to the Chief Justice of Pakistan. At the top of note, the deceased wrote in Pashto, "Saeeda [his wife], give this letter to Saqib to give it to Yahya Afridi."
In the alleged note, which is also circulating on social media, Munir said that a reference was filed by the NAB against him in a case of restoration of a plot back in 2008. "I did not restore the plot and it was restored by the then CDA chairman," he purportedly further said in his note.
He said he had recommended the restoration as he was convinced that it was as per the CDA Restoration Policy 2007. "I remained Member Estate from 2006-2007 to 2010. For more than six years there was no case against me but since April 2017 my life has been made miserable by the NAB," the purported note said.
He also said, "My name was placed on the Exit Control List (ECL) in November 2017 for three months under a first information report in which my name was not mentioned. The NAB initiated three investigations and two inquiries against me in the last one year.
"I would humbly request you to kindly read my attached statement in each case, if you think that I have been involved in the corrupt practices then the case is closed and if the NAB is found wrong then I would like you to clear my name."
He said he was going to commit suicide to avoid humiliation of being handcuffed and paraded in front of media. "I would request you, the chief justice, to take notice of NAB officials," he said.
"I am giving my life with a hope that the Chief Justice will bring positive changes in the system where incompetent people are playing with the life and honour of citizens in the name of accountability." The authenticity of the letter could not be ascertained till filing of this report.
Soon after the incident, the police shifted the body to Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) for postmortem. However, relatives of the deceased requested not to perform autopsy and then the body was returned to the family upon completion of legal formalities.
The police said that a report mentioning Section 174 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), which deals with the cases of suicide, would be filed.
A source from within the hospital said that a two-member team of the PIMS - Deputy Director Dr Farrukh Kamal and Medico Legal Officer Muhammad Irshad - examined the body. He said apparently the deceased had committed suicide. There were no marks of any resistance on the body, they added.
Khalid Munir, the elder brother of Munir, tweeted that his brother had passed away and the funeral would be offered in Islamabad. He did not disclose the cause of death. Munir was former in-charge of ISI in Peshawar. He also worked as defence analyst following his retirement.
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