KARACHI, Aug 31: A special medical board tasked with carrying out the second post-mortem on the remains of Kafila Siddiqui, who had been brought dead to an Islamabad hospital in mysterious circumstances by former state minister Shahid Jamil, has concluded that trauma seems to be the cause of her death as histo-pathological and chemical reports have come out clean, sources close to the medical board told Dawn.
Both the reports received by board members on Friday did not show any findings. She was neither suffering from any diseases nor was poisoned, the sources citing the reports said.
“Thus, the most likely cause of her death is trauma i.e. violence,” they added.
Prof Umar Memon, who is heading the broad, told Dawn that both the reports were negative which meant that there were no traces of drugs, poison or any other substance that could contribute to a probable cause of death.
“These findings strengthen our observations in the provisional report that the possibility of violence could not be ruled out as a probable cause of death,” Prof Memon said.
The report was submitted to the judicial magistrate Islamabad and the Sindh health department on July 13. He said the board members would meet on Saturday to finalise the opinion and forward it to the relevant quarters.
The five-member board, comprising Prof Mohammad Umar Memon, head of the department of forensic medicine, DMC Prof Dr Ghulam Ali, head of the department of forensic medicine, Sindh Medical College, Dr Bashir Ahmed Shaikh, police surgeon, Dr Sikander Rafique Qureshi, head of radiology CHK, Dr Muneer Soomro, chief pathologist of the Institute of Social Hygiene Centre, Dr Kausar Parveen, additional police surgeon, Sindh Government Hospital, Saudabad, and Dr Nasreen Qamar, woman medico-legal officer at JPMC, had carried out the postmortem examination following exhumation on July 10.
The board members had reached a consensus that the first postmortem carried out at the PIMS Islamabad was superficial which had either been conducted by a junior doctor or performed under pressure.
