Fundamentals of Project Management

Final Project – Group #: 2

Submitted To: Mr. Shahzad Ahmad

Hafiz Uzair (Leader) 03-398212-014

Usama Shahid 03-398212-041

Muhammad Huzaifa 03-398212-028

Aleena Naqvi 03-398212-038

Tasqeen Fatima 03-398212-040

© 2022 - Department of Management Science, BULC

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Table of Contents

Acknowledgements.........................................................................................................3

Executive Summary.........................................................................................................4

Question#: 1.....................................................................................................................5

How do you relate to the movie “The Next Three Days” as one of the best projects

designed under the category “problem”?.......................................................................5

Question#: 2.....................................................................................................................9

Identify the change requests generated in the movie?..................................................9

Question#: 3...................................................................................................................12

If such a situation arises in your life, how different you will design the project?.........12

PLAN A:........................................................................................................................12

PLAN B:........................................................................................................................13

Question#: 4...................................................................................................................16

Role of stakeholders in the project:.............................................................................16

Question#: 5...................................................................................................................21

Real life project experience of life:...............................................................................21

How I handled it:..........................................................................................................21

Was it a successful or failed project?..........................................................................23

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What I learned from it:..................................................................................................24

References......................................................................................................................26

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Acknowledgements

I, Uzair Rasheed Khawaja, the Team leader (TL) of the group 2, affirms that the

originality and genuineness of our project report on movie The Next Three Days. I

worked on question 5 of report. I have reviewed it and affirm the authenticity of work

submitted. Sign & date: Uzair Rasheed Khawaja 01.28.2022

I, Muhammad Huzaifa, the member of the project team of group 2, affirms that the

originality and genuineness of my work. I worked on question number 1 of the report.

Sign & date: Muhammad Huzaifa 01.28.2022

I, Usama Shahid, the member of the project team of group 2, affirms that the originality

and genuineness of my work. I worked on question number 2 of the report.

Sign & date: Usama Shahid 01.28.2022

I, Aleena Naqvi, the member of the project team of group 2, affirms that the originality

and genuineness of my work. I worked on question number 3 of the report.

Sign & date: Aleena Naqvi 01.28.2022

I, Taskeen Fatima, the member of the project team of group 2, affirms that the

originality and genuineness of my work. I worked on question number 4 of the report.

Sign & date: Taskeen Fatima 01.28.2022

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Executive Summary

We have been given a Group Project by “Mr. Shahzad” in which we have to watch a

movie, “The Next Three Days” and make a report based on the 5 questions given in the

project document. As a group, we have watched the movie individually and chose the

questions we want to do for this project. Later, we have arranged a zoom meeting to

discuss all aspects of the movie. We went through all the questions one by one. Each

team member put their point of view/suggestions/perceptions regarding each question.

We extracted the common points by consensus and note that down.

We have identified the main problems in the movie which let lead to initiate the project

described in question 1. We have identified all the change requests in form of sudden

plan change due to any uncertain circumstances for question 2. For question 3, we

designed the project by keeping in mind the culture/environment of Pakistan; if the

same kind of situation happened in Pakistan what would be the protocol and plan

followed to execute the project. We have referred to Kathy’s Book for the template of

the Stakeholder’s register and listed down all the stakeholders involved in the decision

of John with their relevant roles.

In the last question we have explained the real-life experience of a project where we

conducted a university stage play with the collaboration of ISPR. We have thoroughly

explained the approach by which we completed the project successfully and we also

shared the lessons that we learned during the project that can be applied to any future

project irrespective of the domain.

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Question#: 1

How do you relate to the movie “The Next Three Days” as one of the

best projects designed under the category “problem”?

Answer: Following are the reasons that relate the movie “The Next Three Days” as one

of the best projects designed under the category “problem”.

1. False Accusation of Murder:

The case is about Lara Brennan who has been arrested for murdering her boss. The

whole life of a married couple became upside down when the wife is accused of murder.

It is about one afternoon; Lara has had a heated argument with her boss. That particular

evening, her boss is found dead near her parked car, her skull was crushed by a fire

extinguisher.

Lara Brennan, who was barely known about this incident came back from the office

having a double date with the brother of John and his wife. The next morning, it seemed

like a regular household Monday where the wife was getting ready for work and saying

goodbye to his husband and their very young son, Luke, while all of sudden police burst

through the door arrest her in front of her family leaving her husband horrified and put

the child to a trauma.

2. Childhood Trauma

The entire shocking and horrifying incident put Luke, the child into a traumatic condition.

The happy and jolly kid did not continue as before. John has caught up in depression

and was discouraged because of Luke’s behavior. He tried many things to keep him out

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of trauma. He used to bring him to his father’s house and make regular visits to meet his

mother but the kid’s attachment with his mother was concerning and affected her badly.

He ceased to acknowledge her when John and Luke visit her in prison. She asked him

to kiss her but he did not even listen and respond to her properly. She said to John; you

think he will ever kiss me again? This whole thing causes parents extremely stressed

and worried.

3. No Legitimate ways left:

John did whatever he could to fight in court for her but all the evidence was against her.

Three years later, the Lara appeals got canceled but John did not want to stop. He was

committed to going to the Supreme Court but his lawyer advised against it and asked

him to give up on the thought of getting her free. The Lawyer said that the supreme

court had not heard a murder case in the last 30 years and that they would not start

hearing it now. Lara’s lawyer told John there’s no realistic legal recourse left, and John

began to doubt that the lawyer ever believed Lara was innocent in the first place.

“It no longer matters what we believe,” the lawyer shouts. “Lara is not getting out!”

John said he will find another lawyer because he thought the lawyer did not believe in

his wife’s innocence. He went through the evidence a number of times but could only

find that it all points to her wife being the murderer. He was left with no legal way to fight

for her. John could not able to see his son like that; he was disheartened by this whole

incident and he also could not bear the thought of his young wife spending the rest of

her life in jail for something he believes she did not do.

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4. Hopeless and Suicidal Thoughts

The cancelation of the appeal affected John and Lara very much. Lara when heard that

her appeal got canceled and she has to spend the rest of her life in prison shattered

herself. The fear of living without her family caused so much depression that she

become suicidal. She tried to kill and got herself hospitalize.

This incident put John in the great depression as well. But John could not have

accepted that. Never mind the blood. Never mind the fingerprints. He knew that Lara is

innocent. He knew it with full confidence.

5. Parenting Problem

Parenting is one of the main concerns for John. It was becoming difficult for John to

manage Luke solely. Luke has never become quiet and sad. Luke’s absent behavior put

John into the question of doing something on his own.

Someone’s belief in virtue is more important than virtue itself. These were the words

that director Haggis throws at us in the compelling yet somewhat shadowed scenes of

the movie where he showed us the inspirational moments for John when he quotes on

Don Quixote’s theme during his class.

John was a teacher, at a community college who had a moral sense of doing good and

believing in good. It was his main motive for doing what he did as he rationally believed

that his wife was innocent of her charges and did not commit any murder. This sense

was so high that we saw him a couple of times getting upset or angry at his parents and

other people around him, even his wife once where he made her believe that she is not

guilty.

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He questioned his morality, his rational thoughts, and his irrationality that gives the

power to these thoughts. And then he questions what part of our lives is truly under our

control? That is the moment where we see a change in John’s character and he takes

his first action then and there. He saw that there is no way he can save his wife legally

and started planning an escape.

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Question#: 2

Identify the change requests generated in the movie?

Answer: John met up with a man named “Damon Pennington” who has escaped

prisons 7 times in his life. He approached him to interview him on his success, to pick

his brains and to know his experience. He got inspired by it and devised a plan to break

his wife free from the jail and make a run for it. But as the plan went along, he came up

with unforeseen changes due to which he had to think on his feet and make quick

decisions.

1. Use Bump Key to Escape from Prison Elevator

Initial Plan: John watched an online video tutorial of a guy explaining how to

make and use bump keys to open any lock. His initial plan is to escape with his

wife from the elevator onto the roof.

Unfortunately, He broke the bump key inside the lock while he tried to open the

elevator when he went to visit his wife in the jail. He had to change the escape

route because police put an extra security camera around the elevator

afterwards.

Changed Plan: He then faked his wife’s medical test report to cause her an

emergency visit to a nearby hospital where he was ready to break her free from

the room where she was kept for examination in the hospital.

2. Sell his House for Money to execute the Escape Plan

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Initial Plan: His plan initially involved selling his house for money but the

unexpected news of his wife’s transfer into another facility in the next three days

made his whole plan in jeopardy because it was designed for the current facility.

Changed Plan: The buyer could not buy his house in two days so he had to

make an emergency plan. He initially thought of robbing a bank but he felt

hesitation while doing it. But the pressure made him think of finding another way

to get money. So, he decided to rob a local drug dealer to get the money which

was very important for his wife’s escape to be successful.

3. Threatening the Drug Dealer to Get the Money

Initial Plan: As it was shown in the movie that John’s initial plan was to barge

into the house of the local drug dealer, threatening him with the gun to get the

money.

Changed Plan: Unfortunately, it didn't execute according to his plan. John ended

up killing the meth guy in self-defense when the guy tricked John to save his kids

upstairs from the fire and later tried to shoot him near the stairs.

4. Picking up Luke from his Friend’s Birthday Party

Initial Plan: His escape plan involved picking his son up from his newly made

friend's house where a birthday party was going on. He could not leave his son at

any relative’s house because police would get to him and he could surely not

have him with him while he tried to break her wife free. On his way back from the

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hospital along with his wife, he has 35 minutes to get out of the city which

includes picking up Luke on the way.

Changed Plan 1: Unfortunately, when he arrived at his friend's house he got to

know from a lady that the party was not at the house but instead they had all

gone to a nearby Zoo. He changed his plan to drive to Zoo to pick up his son. On

the way to the Zoo, John realizes that could not reach there at the 35 minutes

deadline so he changed his route to the highway thinking of leaving his son

behind who would eventually go back to John’s parents and they would take care

of him. He said to his wife that once they both are out of the country he would do

something to get their son back.

Changed Plan 2: They had to take the risk to go to the zoo because his wife

tried to jump out of the moving car as she could not leave her son behind and

wanted to end all the chaos but John saved her. They got their son but the

deadline had been crossed and the city was under lockdown.

5. Heading towards the Airport after Picking up Luke

Initial Plan: John’s initial plan after picking up his son was to escape the country.

He was heading towards the airport with his wife and son but suddenly stopped

his car midway and turned on the radio where the news of passenger’s checking

at the Toll Plaza was going on.

Changed Plan: He then went to a railway station and invited an old couple up for

a cheap ride because they were also going to the same city. That way they were

able to pass the police checkpoint at the toll plaza as they were directed to stop a

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couple and a young boy trying to get out of the city but now that they had an old

man and an old woman, they no longer fit the description of prisoners on the

loose.

Question#: 3

If such a situation arises in your life, how different you will design the

project?

Answer: If such a situation as portrayed in the movie, “The Next three days”, arises in

my life and I were to design a similar project in Pakistan, I would have done things very

differently than those shown in the movie, because in Pakistan different practices are

being followed in this regard than west. I would have designed the project by keeping in

mind the social practices, norms, culture, laws and criminal justice system of Pakistan.

In Pakistan, criminal justice system is inefficient and dysfunctional with so many

fundamental flaws like inaccurate reporting of crime, malpractices during litigation,

delayed submissions of challans to the courts by public prosecutors, lopsided and long

duration of trials and many more. So in our society, people can easily get away with

cases without using extreme means/violence. I would have worked out two plans:

PLAN A:

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1. Giving blood money to the family of the deceased one: My plan A would

have been to sort out the matter with family of the deceased through negotiation

without using any violent means by giving blood money (Diyat) to the family of

the deceased one. In Pakistan legal and penal system is directly influenced by

Shariah law. Diyat in Islamic law is the financial compensation paid to the heirs of

victim in murder cases. In the modern era, Diyat plays a role in the legal system

of Pakistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia and UAE. The criminal code in Pakistan has

provisions that allow pardons for the accused without compensation even. Often

family’s pardon and forgive in the name of Allah. 

Considering the scenario given that I am a college teacher and I don’t have

enough amount of money to pay Diyat, but circumstances demand me to do so

due to declining mental health of my child, I would have sold my property/house/

jewelry in order to arrange the money.

For instance, In Raymond Davis case, charges were dropped and Raymond was

released after payment to the families of two people he had shot. He was

released under a principle of Sharia that allows murder charges to be dismissed

if Diyat is paid to the deceased’s family. This arrangement is legal and common

in Pakistan and is being seen in so many cases around the country.

PLAN B:

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If my plan A had not worked, I would have implemented plan B by making use of the

loopholes in our criminal justice system and immoral practices commonly being used in

our society. It would have comprised of the following steps:

1. Arrangement of money: First thing I would have done would be to arrange a

large amount of money to deal with the case. For this purpose, I would hire the

robbers alongside to rob the bank by involving bank guards. Robberies led by

bank guards are very common and successful in Pakistan.

2. Bribe the investigators to mess up the evidence: This is the most common

way used in our society in criminal offences. First thing I would have done would

be to bribe the police officers to mess up the evidence, like fingerprints found on

the murder weapon or any other evidence found at crime scene which goes

against us. This happens is so many cases in Pakistan, like the attempts to mess

up evidence in recent case of Noor Mukaddam.

I would have bought fake witnesses to give false testimonies in our favor to turn

the direction of investigation.

3. Threaten the victim’s family to give up on case: This is a very common

practice in our society. My next step of plan B would have been to threaten the

victim’s family to give up on the case.

One such example from our society is high profile murder case of Shahzeb khan,

in which family of the victim pardoned an influential feudal lord’s son due to

threatening and extreme pressure saying that they have forgiven him in the name

of Allah.

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4. Hire a strong lawyer to pressurize the judge for ruling in favor: In Pakistani

society, relative power position of some famous lawyers which are associated

with lawyer associations can easily influence the ruling of judges. I would have

hired an influential criminal defense lawyer. Already messed up evidence, fake

testimonies and lawyer pressure could have worked wonders for my case and

the decision would have been in our favor easily due to insufficient evidence

available.

5. Arranging fake papers and flee to Iran: After having a clean chit from court, I

would have made necessary arrangements like fake papers and passport to flee

from the country to any of the neighboring countries, among which Iran is the

safest option, in order to avoid enmity from victim’s family side.

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Question#: 4

Role of stakeholders in the project:

Following are the details of the stakeholders involved in the project.

NAME POSITION INTERNAL/ PROJECT ROLE

EXTERNAL

John Brennan Hero/Lead Actor Internal Project Champion/Sponsor. Designed

the project to evacuate his wife from jail.

Lara Brennan Convict Internal Supporter. Wife of John for whom the

project was designed.

George Father of Hero Internal Supporter. Provided emotional support

Brennan to John and took care of his son.

Grace Mother of hero Internal Supporter. Provided emotional support

Brennan to John and took care of his son.

Luke Brennan Son of convict Internal Supporter. Son of John who was getting

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disturbed due to her mother and

because of him the project was

designed.

Elizebath Victim External Resistor. Lady who was murdered by a

Geases robber and Lara was falsely accused of

her murdered.

Carrie Friend of Luke External Neutral. Provided emotional support to

Luke.

Nicolle Mother of Luke’s External Neutral. Provided emotional backup to

friend Luke and John.

Damon Consultant External Supporter. He guided and gave idea to

Pennington (writer of book John about how to break the jail and

“escaping from obstacles during the whole scenario.

prison”)

Meyer Fisk Lawyer External Supporter. Tried to take out Lara from

prison through legal means.

Detective Detective External Resistor. Carried out investigation of

Quinan Lara’s case.

Detective Detective External Resistor. Carried out investigation of

Collero Lara’s case.

Mick Brennan Brother of Hero External Supporter. Provided emotional support

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to John and Luke.

Eritt Wife of Mick External Supporter. Provided emotional support

to John and Luke.

Sergeant Sergeant External Resistor. Involved in investigation of

Harris Lara’s case.

Mouss and Drug dealers External Resistors. Deceived John, snatched his

Harv money and brutally beaten him.

Birdie Lifson Doctor External Neutral. Took care of Lara’s health

Courts of Courts External Resistor. Decision of Lara’s case on

Pittsburg basis of evidences.

Pittsburg Department of External Resistor. Managed the investigation of

police police Lara’s case.

department

Pittsburg Health lab External Neutral. Examined Lara’s health by

Medical health worker taking her medical tests.

lab

Allegheny Jail External Resistor. Managing the jail where Lara

county jail administration was being kept after conviction

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Port authority Ports (trains) External Neutral. Managing the transportation of

of Allegheny administration trains through which John and Lara

county travelled.

Airport Airport External Neutral. Managing the flights and airport

Authorities of Administration administration through which John and

Allegheny his family flew to Canada.

county

Highway Toll Plaza External Resistor. There were checking each car

authority administration to find John and his family and capture

them based on given information

provided by police department.

University Hospital External Neutral. Hospital from where the Lara

hospital was evacuated by John after misleading

Pittsburg the police.

Community College External Neutral. College where John used to

college administration teach.

Pittsburg

Old Couple Passengers External Supporter. Joined John and his family in

travelling to other city which helped

John to cross toll plaza after information

of their identity was released by police.

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Bikers Fake ID External Supporter. Helped John by providing

providers him fake documents to leave the

country.

Meth maker Drug lord External Resistor. Clashed with John while

arranging money for executing plan,

later he was killed by John.

Drug dealer Drug trafficker External Resistor. Had a clash with John and

was murdered later.

Dog of drug Pet Dog External Resistor. Barked at John to make him

dealer run away from meth maker place.

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Question#: 5

Real life project experience of life:

The experience of a real-life project that I choose is of a university stage play which I

co-directed and co-written back in January 2015 at annual Olympiad of FAST-NUCES.

The project was initiated after the horrific incident of Peshawar APS attack in 2014

which shook the country with the loss of 150 precious lives. To show solidarity with the

armed forces of Pakistan, Management of FAST-NU decided to conduct annual

university Olympiad with the theme “Jazba”. All the societies/student bodies conduct

relevant events in the Olympiad. I, being the head of dramatic society was assigned the

responsibility to conduct a stage play on the given theme promoting patriotism and

sacrifices of the armed forces.

Executing a stage play usually takes 4-5 months which includes writing play story,

scripts, conducting auditions, finalization of casts, getting sponsorships, manage

marketing, ticketing, costume/stage designing, arranging props and setting up lights and

sound systems and rehearsals. We were given the timeline of only 5 weeks to manage

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and execute the complete stage play. Total members of the team were 30 including

director, writer, performers, backstage management, event management and technical

management. The duration of the play was 90 minutes.

How I handled it:

Given the time constraint if I have followed my usual approach of managing a play then

it would have been impossible to conduct a stage play in such a short span of time.

Following are the details of the approach I opted to complete this project with in given

time and budget.

 Instead of writing the story and script from the scratch, I asked in the dramatic

circle of Islamabad and got a pre-written story and script of an already performed

play on the same theme. It saved the work effort of almost 2 months.

 Rather conducting auditions for all the roles, I did auditions for few secondary

roles and assigned major roles to actors who performed in my previous plays as

their talent and abilities were already known to me. I collected and saved the

basic demographics information along with personal strengths and weaknesses

of each team member which helped me a lot in tasks delegation.

 Whole play team was assigned the task of managing sponsorship and marketing

irrespective of their roles in play. This helped us in getting more sponsorships

and a greater audience reach on social media.

 Since the project was in collaboration with ISPR, I mentioned this collaboration in

our sponsorship and marketing proposals and it helped us in getting sponsorship

and media coverage without much effort.

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 I made the most out of this partnership with ISPR and identified all the aspects of

the project in which we can take their assistance. I also managed to get major

portion of costumes and props from them saving time and cost. Army uniforms,

replica guns, bags and boots were provided by ISPR.

 Conducted rehearsals for 3 straight weeks on alternative timeslots to make it

feasible for everyone to attend them as per their convenience. Team members

were from different educational departments having different study schedules, so

rehearsals were planned in a way that everyone can practice their scenes with

their co performer. We took the help of online scheduling tools available to

manage the schedule.

 Made some changes in the team during the rehearsals, switched roles to avoid

conflicts within the team and to improve the overall management of the play.

 Identified the sensitivity of each role in the play and took 3 students having prior

theater experience onboard as backup/reserved actors and trained them for

critical roles as a backup plan.

 Since there were no monetary benefits for the participants, I kept the

environment of the project team quite friendly and appreciated their efforts

regularly in order to keep them motivated and interested.

 1 day before the final performance, we conducted 3 full dress rehearsals

including all the team members to verify if everything is done as planned.

Was it a successful or failed project?

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It was a successful project as it was completed within given time and budget while

ensuring satisfaction of all the stakeholders involved. We got standing ovation from the

crowd at the end of the play and got featured in the next days newspaper as well.

Whole project team got appreciation letter from the university director for putting up the

great show.

What I learned from it:

 A project manager should improvise plans as per the need of the situation and

should not always stick to some predefined management approach. When

required, never hesitate to ask for help from your peers. If you can utilize an

already created resource from a different project, you should use it to save time

and effort in reinventing the wheel.

 You need to have complete details of your team and information about their

strengths and weaknesses. This information come in handy in tasks delegation,

backup plans and in future projects as well.

 The most critical and the least critical members of the team are the most difficult

to manage. Most critical resources take leverage of their importance while least

critical resources get demotivated of their insignificance.

 Don’t consider any member of your team less important. Sometimes they do

wonders which you do not expect from them. You need have faith and believe in

each member of your team.

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 Ideally, you need to have a backup of each and every member of your team or at

least have a backup ready for critical resources of the team which can be utilized

in case of any unforeseen event.

 You need to learn and understand how to take maximum benefits out of your

collaborations and partnerships. You need to identify all the areas where they

can help you in monetary or nonmonetary terms. If you make use of these

collaborations efficiently then it will significantly reduce your work burden or

efforts required to get the work done.

 Wherever possible and feasible, try to use technological tools to manage your

work efficiently. This will save your time, effort and product better results.

 If you cannot reward your team members with monetary benefits then try to

provide them a good environment to flourish, appreciate their work and

acknowledge their efforts in order to keep them motivated. People leave toxic

environments where their efforts are not acknowledged even though they are

highly paid.

 Before the final deadline of a project, we should test the complete project multiple

times to avoid unforeseen errors and see the existing shortcomings of the

project.

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References

1. Diyya _ Wikipedia. Retrieved 28th Jan 2022, from

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diya_(Islam)

2. Shahzeb murder case. Retrieved 28th Jan 2022, from

https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/924154-shahzeb-murder-case-shahrukh-jatoi-

shifted-to-jail-after-media-trial

3. https://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/14/magazine/raymond-davis-pakistan.html

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