KARACHI: Police force doctors for report without autopsy
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, June 25: The police, on Tuesday, pressurized a team of medicolegal officers to give their opinion without conducting postmortem examination of former federal minister, Omar Asghar Khan.
Omar Asghar, who resigned as labour minister in the present regime, was found dead in his room at the house of his brother-in-law in Defence Housing Authority. The family told the police that they found him hanging from the ceiling fan. By the time the police reached the spot, the family members had already moved the body.
Well-placed sources said that the police reached the house in Defence Housing Authority after getting information that Omar Asghar Khan apparently committed suicide. Omar had recently formed a political party and could have had a possible role in the future political government.
High-ranking police officers called in a team of doctors who inspected the body and asked the police to shift it to a hospital mortuary where proper postmortem could be conducted.
The sources claimed that on the insistence of Omar Asghar’s in-laws, the police officials pressed the medicolegal officers to give their opinion on the spot, but the doctors refused to comply with their orders.
This led to an argument between the police and the doctors, with the latter maintaining that they could not give their opinion in writing without performing a proper postmortem examination. The body was then shifted to Civil Hospital, subsequently, for autopsy around 4:30pm.
Earlier, the police and the family members were still undecided whether postmortem should be conducted. After the decision was reached to go ahead with it, the police informed the medicolegal officers at Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre to conduct postmortem. Later, the body was shifted to Civil Hospital.
After autopsy, the body of Omar Asghar was taken to Karachi airport by Edhi ambulance and flown to Islamabad by PIA flight no PK-370. His body would be taken to Abbottabad for final rites and burial, sources said.
News about the death of Omar Asghar spread like wildfire in the city as well as other parts of the country.
However, the police made the situation mysterious by misleading the press that no such incident had taken place in the metropolis.
City Police Chief, Asad Jehangir, when contacted around 1:45pm, expressed ignorance about the death of Omar Asghar. He said: “No such incident has taken place in Karachi.”
A police spokesman, around 3:30pm, informed the press that a press conference would be addressed by the Inspector General of Police, Syed Kamal Shah. However, he said the topic of the press conference was “secret”. Later, the press conference was addressed by the city police chief and not the IGP.
The police also cordoned off the house where Omar Asghar was staying at the time of his death. Traffic police reached the spot to regulate vehicular movement as the house is situated on a main road. Motorists passing by stopped frequently to ask what had happened there.
The police did not allow journalists to enter the house or talk to any of the family members. Press photographers were also barred entry. The police created hurdles for press photographers when the body arrived at the hospital for autopsy as well.
The journalists registered their protest with Asad Jehangir and DIG Operations, Tariq Jamil, at the latter’s office about misleading the press and creating hurdles in the way of journalists as they went about their professional duties.
