Advocacy group Justice for Noor stresses that Noor did not ‘live’ with her killer

WEB DESK: The Justice for Noor campaign has firmly rejected claims suggesting Noor Mukadam lived with her murderer, Zahir Zakir Jaffer, calling such allegations “cruel and deeply disrespectful.”

On November 26, Justice Ali Baqar Najafi, now of the Federal Constitutional Court, sparked criticism with an additional note in the Noor Mukadam murder case, linking the tragedy to a so-called societal “vice” of live-in relationships. His note, appended to the Supreme Court ruling upholding Zahir Zakir Jaffer’s death sentence, described such relationships as flouting social and religious norms and warned of their “horrible consequences.” Noor, 27, was murdered in Islamabad in July 2021, and Jaffer was sentenced to death in 2022, a verdict later confirmed by the Islamabad High Court and Supreme Court. Najafi urged young people to heed societal and religious boundaries.

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The group clarified that Noor, lived with her parents and brother, in a home where she was “safe, loved, and protected.” The recurring misinformation, they said, distorts her story, shifts blame onto the victim, and forces her family to relive trauma.

Justice for Noor highlighted that the false narrative originated from Jaffer himself, who provided contradictory statements during interrogation, attempted to blame others, and ultimately committed the heinous acts of kidnapping, torture, rape, and murder.

The advocacy group urged the public to scrutinise sources and warned against accepting the words of a convicted killer over the truth of the victim and her family. “Misinformation isn’t harmless. It is cruel,” they stressed, reaffirming that Noor’s life and dignity must not be rewritten.