February 10, 2008	Sunday	Safar 02, 1429

KARACHI, Feb 9: An inquiry tribunal investigating the Oct 18 Karsaz blasts recalled on Saturday the summons and arrest warrants it had issued earlier for some leaders of the Pakistan People’s Party till Feb 25 in compliance of an order passed by the Sindh High Court.

The tribunal chief, retired Justice Dr Ghous Mohammad, also directed the registrar to summon witnesses, including Dr Zulfiqar Mirza, Agha Siraj Durrani, Syed Qaim Ali Shah and Naheed Khan, after Feb 25.

The SHC observed on Feb 7 that while the inquiry into the Oct 18, 2007 blasts in the city would continue, the tribunal would not issue coercive processes to enforce the presence of four key witnesses till Feb 25.

“Since the high court has directed that five witnesses – Dr Zulfiqar Mirza, Agha Siraj Durrani, Major (retd) Imtiaz, Qaim Ali Shah and Abdul Ghani Baloch – not be summoned and their statements not be recorded till Feb 25, therefore, in compliance of the order, the summons shall not be issued and those issued earlier stand recalled,” the tribunal head ordered.

Dr Ghous observed that the name of Naheed Khan, who was also summoned for her statement on Saturday, was not mentioned in the high court’s order but keeping in view her political engagements she should also be summoned after Feb 25.

The tentative schedule for examining the witnesses was also decided by the tribunal according to which SSP Maj (retd) Imtiaz would appear before the tribunal on Feb 26, Mr Durrani will testify on Feb 27, Dr Mirza on Feb 28, the float driver and Mr Shah would depose on March 1 whereas Naheed Khan’s statement would be recorded on March 3.

Representing the PPP, advocate Adnan Karim filed a statement with a certified copy of the order of the Sindh High Court asking for certified copies of the statements so far recorded in the inquiry proceeding as well as orders and diary sheets on payment of the cost. “There is no provision for obtaining the cost,” remarked retired Justice Dr Ghous. He, however, directed registrar Zahoor Ahmed Hakro to provide all relevant copies to the PPP counsel on Monday.

Meanwhile, the tribunal recorded statements of nine medico-legal officers (MLOs), six of them from the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre and three from the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, who had conducted the post-mortem on the Karsaz blasts victims.

Senior MLO of the JPMC Dr Kaleem Shaikh told the tribunal that he had conducted post-mortem on five bodies brought to the hospital from Karsaz after midnight on Oct 18. “I conducted a post-mortem and not an autopsy because the nature of injuries was common. Therefore, we conducted only a post-mortem and gave the cause of death on an external examination basis,” he deposed.

All MLOs in their separate statements informed the tribunal that the injuries caused by ballistic and explosive material were given as the cause of death of those killed in the midnight Karsaz blasts and whose post-mortems were conducted by them from Oct 19 to Oct 22.

Answering a question, Dr Afzal Ahmed of the JPMC, who had conducted post-mortems on six bodies, said he was sure that the victims did not sustain any bullet injury.

Later, the tribunal adjourned its proceeding till Monday for recording statements of the police surgeon and other MLOs.