30 January 2005	Sunday	19 Zilhaj 1425

HYDERABAD, Jan 29: The leader of the opposition in the Sindh Assembly, Nisar Ahmad Khuhro, has criticized the in-camera inquiry in the case of a criminal assault on a lady doctor, saying the modus operandi adopted in the inquiry has raised many questions and created misgivings in minds of people.

Speaking at a press conference at a hotel here on Saturday, he said it had never happened before in cases of criminal assaults on women.

He wondered why the victim was being kept away from the press, adding that no body knew where the lady doctor was. He said the government was never tired of proclaiming that it believed in transparency but the inquiry into the case was being held behind closed doors.

The People's Party Parliamentarians leader said there was no harm in including members of the civil society, human rights activists and representatives of the Pakistan Medical Association in the inquiry to make it transparent.

He said he would move the registrar of the Sindh High Court to allow some members of the Sindh Assembly to be present at the time of inquiry as observers. He said he would also raise the issue on the floor of the assembly.

He criticized the government for trying to keep the general public in the dark about the victim's fate and the outcome of the inquiry. Mr Khuhro recalled the Tando Bahawal carnage of 1992 when the government had been claiming for nine days that bandits been killed but true facts about the incident had been exposed by the press that the victims were innocent villagers.

He said the name of one Captain Hammad was being taken as one of the tormentors of the lady doctor which had further aggravated the situation.

He said the incident had caused uproar and led to the army operation, ejection of people from the Sui area and house-to-house searches but authorities concerned were trying to hide the facts.