KARACHI, July 3: A lawyer and an eye-witness evidently brought the Nishtar Park blast inquiry tribunal close to the identification of the suicide bomber and the spot where the explosion occurred.

Advocate Javaid Ahmed Chhatari produced several picture grabs from a television channel video showing a man sitting on the ground near the rope that separated the audience from the stage with striking resemblance to the man whose severed head, with features somewhat distorted by the blast injuries, was later found in a hospital. The lawyer, who represents the Pakistan Sunni Movement, said he saw the movie time and again and detected the man sitting in the front row of the public meeting. Subsequently, he (the suspected bomber) crossed the barriers along with others and stood in the fourth or fifth row of the ground congregation formed by ‘trespassers’ adjacent to the stage. The new rows on the ground were in line with the ones formed on the stage.

The tribunal, which consists of Justice Rahmat Hussain Jafferi of the Sindh High Court, compared the video grabs with the picture of the head made by the police and asked investigation office Raza Ali Shah whether he had a picture of the man after plastic surgery so that his features could be compared with those of the suspect visible in the movie. The IO had no picture and the tribunal sent the photographs to the Citizens-Police Liaison Committee for scrutiny by their experts. A report was requested within two days. The pictures would be sent to Nadra for verification after CPLC report.

At Additional Advocate-General Sarwar Khan’s request the tribunal asked the media not to publish the picture grabs. The AAG said the investigation was in progress and the suspected bomber’s accomplices would try to foil any attempt to identify or locate them. The tribunal said the picture of the head had already been published but the media should not carry the photograph of the man identified as the suspect by Advocate Chhatari.

Meanwhile, eye-witness Bashir Chishti, who was brought again for more detailed examination, deposed that he saw ‘a flash’ in the forth and fifth of the ground congregation adjacent to the stage. Chishti was sitting on the stage and was seriously injured in the blast. He has yet to fully recover and was brought from his residence in a police van. He had earlier given a graphic account of the proceedings on the stage and identified the leaders present there.

Other injured witnesses who recorded their statements on Monday were Adnan, Mohammad Tariq, Mohammad Saeed and Osman. They were briefly questioned by the tribunal and allowed to go after their injuries were photographed. The AAG was asked to submit a list of doctors who treated the injured or issued post mortem reports at various hospitals.

The witnesses produced by Advocate Chhatari on behalf of the Sunni Movement on Monday said they came from various places to attend the Eid-i-Milad function at the Nishtar Park on April 11. They received pellet injuries and were treated at various hospitals. Most of them had to be taken to Al-Mustafa Medical Centre in Gulshan-i-Iqbal for treatment.