MIRPURKHAS: Doctors at the Mirpurkhas District Headquarters (DHQ) Hospital observed a boycott of OPDs and took out a protest rally on Tuesday over arrest of a colleague over allegedly issuing a fictitious report regarding postmortem of Dr Shahnawaz Kunbhar.

An FIA team, investigating the infamous custodial murder case of blasphemy accused Dr Kunbhar, arrested Dr Muntazim Leghari and produced him in the Mirpurkhas Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) on Tuesday. He has been accused of having issued a fictitious report on the initial postmortem of the deceased.

Dr Muntazim Leghari was interrogated by the FIA team, which produced him in the Mirpurkhas ATC. The court sent him on judicial remand for two days.

Doctors at the Mirpurkhas DHQ Hospital reacted angrily to the arrest of their colleague and boycotted the OPD. Several hundreds patients coming to hospital had to return home without consulting any doctor.

Dr Kunbhar’s some social media posts in September last year had triggered widespread protests in Sindh as several religious outfits took his posts as blasphemous. He had to flee to Karachi to escape wrath of violent crowds but was taken into protective custody and brought to Mirpurkhas by a police team on Sept 17, 2024. Within the next 24 hours, the police claimed that Dr Kunbhar was shot dead in an encounter with criminals. It later transpired that he was killed in police custody.

The initial postmortem report issued by Dr Leghari remained confidential for weeks but it was learnt that it did not mention marks of violence on the body.

The body was exhumed on October 16, 2024 under a court order and another postmortem was performed which revealed that Dr Kunbhar was subjected to torture before being killed. His several bones were broken.

A couple of days after Dr Kunbhar’s alleged custodial killing, the body was handed over to his family. His father, along with some relatives, transported it to hometown in Umerkot for burial in the ancestral graveyard. However, a group of charged fanatics chased the car carrying the body. The body was snatched from the heirs and torched by the fanatics to vent their anger.

Published in Dawn, February 12th, 2025