KARACHI: Reports make no mention of injury to severed head: Nishtar Park tribunal informed
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, July 21: The police inquest report makes no mention of any injury on the severed head of the suspected suicide bomber, a police sub-inspector told the Nishtar Park blast inquiry tribunal on Friday.
SI Asghar Ali of the Soldier Bazaar police station, who prepared the inquest report of as many as 24 deceased victims of the April 11 explosion, informed the tribunal in his testimony that some people gave him a man’s severed head without any other part of his body at the Nishtar Park. He handed the head to the chief of the emergency unit of the Jinnah Post-Graduate Medical Centre.
Replying to a question, the witness said he examined the head of the alleged suicide bomber in the presence of ‘mashirs’ (witnesses) but did not mention any injury on the head in his report. He said he also examined 24 bodies, including those of Hafiz Mohammad Taqi, Dr Abdul Qadeer Abbasi and Hafiz Yaseen, at the JPMC in the presence of ‘mashirs’. Most of the victims received injuries on their heads and necks. He found during his examination that half of the head of deceased Mushtaq was missing.
Except for the heads and bodies of three people, Faizan, Akhtar Nawaz and Mukhtar Ahmed, the SI said, all the bodies were handed to their relatives after autopsy. The bodies of Faizan, Akhtar Nawaz and Mukhtar Ahmed were shifted to the Edhi mortuary on an Edhi ambulance as their relatives did not come forward to claim or receive the bodies.
The bodies were handed to the driver of ambulance after obtaining his signatures. He produced the receipts, only two of which were found to have been singed by the driver.
The witness said he also recorded the statement of Maulana Altaf Qadri, the complainant in the case, under Section 154 of the code of criminal procedure at the JPMC. The maulana had also a minor injury on his forehead. A case was later registered on his complaint.
Sub-inspectors Safdar Iqbal, Aftab Hangoro, Qamar Zaman Khwaja and Mohammad Akram of the Soldier Bazaar police station, who prepared inquest reports of 12 deceased victims at the Civil Hospital, were also examined before the tribunal by Additional Advocate-General Sarwar Khan.
SI Akram said he made the inquest report of four people, including Haji Hanif Billo at the emergency ward of the Civil Hospital in the presence of ‘mashirs’. He said Haji Hanif Billo received injuries all over his body.
SI Qamar Zaman Khwaja also prepared inquest reports of four bodies while SI Aftab made reports of two bodies.
SI Safdar said he made reports of two victims who succumbed to injuries on April 17 and 21 at the surgical ward of the Civil Hospital. He said the deceased received injuries on their heads but he did not know whether they also received injuries on other parts of their bodies as bodies were ‘packed’ and doctors did not allow him to open them for examination.
The tribunal, which consists of Justice Rahmat Hussain Jafferi of the Sindh High Court, adjourned further proceedings to Saturday, reserving the cross-examination of SI Asghar Ali.
Earlier, the tribunal examined SDPO Anwar Zaib of Jamshed Town, who was assigned duty of deployment of police and security in the town. The witness said at time of the blast he was busy removing vehicles parked around Nishtar Park. Replying to a query, he said angry mobs returning to their homes from Nishtar Park damaged public and private properties in different parts of the city.
The police official deposed that people became violent after the blast and keeping in view the gravity of the situation, police did not use force to disperse the participants.
Had police interfered, the situation might have been aggravated further, he said. However, he added, the police did use around 250 teargas shells to disperse a group of rioters who were threatening to attack premises belonging to other sects.
