KARACHI, June 12: Justice Rahmat Hussain Jafferi, head of the Nishtar Park Tribunal of Inquiry, observed on Monday that the police could not absolve themselves of their responsibility by merely terming the Nishtar Park blast a suicide bombing.

The bench earlier inquired from the DIG Investigations, Zone-II, Manzoor Mughal, why he did not take notice of the presence of a stool near the stage.

The investigators should have investigated from all possible aspects and sifted through the evidence and debris to know the nature of the blast and those behind the tragedy. The bench also inquired whether the presence of a stool was in the knowledge of Mr Manzoor Mughal and whether he had probed this aspect also.

Manzoor Mughal, who is heading one of the high level teams, said he came to know about the stool only on Monday. The investigations should have been made from all angles and every inch should have been combed and examined, the tribunal remarked, adding, the police responsibility did not reduce by terming it a suicide bombing.

Earlier, the tribunal put a number of questions to ASI Iftekhar of the Brigade police station who was assigned duty of filming the entire procession, led by Shah Turabul Haq, and later the public meeting at the Nishtar Park. The bench termed him “a most important eye-witness” and said he would not be let off until he comes out with key information about the blast.

The bench posed a number of questions and asked again and again to refresh his memory and recall every minute detail as he had been capturing the proceedings on his video without any break.

The tribunal pointed out that some article could be seen in the video film footage by the witness. ASI Iftkhar, after a while, said he now recalls a suspicious stool next to the rostrum and at a distance of six to seven feet. He said it was one foot in width, four feet in length and one foot high.

“I have seen only a glimpse of it and cannot say whether any photographer used it for coverage.” The tribunal again impressed upon the witness that he should not consider himself a routine witness but an eye-witness.

“If facts are not revealed, the same will be extracted by asking even minute details, leading to a picture of the incident in toto.”

ASI Iftekhar later gave details about the stage and said he entered Nishtar Park late when few Ulema and speakers had already addressed the meeting. Shah Turabul Haq got up as soon as his speech was over, he said, adding some 200 workers of the religious parties who jointly organized the event were on security duty and they kept the participants away from the stage. He informed the tribunal that ropes and bamboos were used to make a buffer zone between the stage and the participants and it was manned by the workers on security duty. He disclosed that he was present on the stage when the blast occurred.

“The intensity of the blast was huge and I fell down and lost senses. When I regain consciousness, I found myself lying in a police mobile and alighted from it at a petrol station located in Soldier Bazaar near the site of incident,” ASI Iftekhar told the tribunal.

He also stated that he also covered the Ulema offering Maghreb prayers and that he was facing the Ulema. He denied having seen any ball of fire from the stage.

The tribunal also cross-examined SSP Political Dr Zain who produced reports by officers on intelligence duty from the Jamshed Town. He again failed to produce reports from the officials on duty in the Saddar Town.

The tribunal also expressed reservations over security arrangements for the tribunal and summoned the TPO of Saddar Sanaullah Abbasi.

The TPO informed the tribunal that the DSP deputed for security was on leave and a junior officer was looking after the security matters.

The tribunal observed that security arrangements were inadequate and directed the Registrar Mohammad Suhail and advocates to make a security plan. AAG Sarwar Khan also informed the tribunal that some unidentified and unconcerned persons were recording the proceedings of the tribunal.—APP