HYDERABAD, March 21: The Sindh High Court, Hyderabad circuit bench, on Thursday issued notices to the federal interior secretary, Sindh home secretary, SP of Shaheed Benazirabad and SHO of the Sakrand police station for April 17 on a constitutional petition seeking a fair and honest investigation into the alleged murder of Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz (JAQM) chairman Bashir Khan Qureshi.

Mr Qureshi was taken to a hospital in Sakrand on April 7, 2012 after he fell ill and died after a few hours. Some medical reports suggested that he was poisoned to death.

Mr Qureshi’s younger brother, Maqsood Qureshi, filed a petition in the high court through Advocate Hashim Leghari praying a fair and honest investigation into the matter by a United Nations agency, the Scotland Yard or some other international agency.

The petitioner submitted that the late JSQM chief was arrested by Rangers on Sept 15, 2011 and accused of carrying illicit weapons. A court, however, ordered his release after he produced the licence of the arms he possessed. The petitioner alleged that security agencies were hostile to the politician, who had survived many assassination attempts before his sudden death.

According to the petitioner, Mr Qureshi led a march for Sindh’s independence on March 23, 2012 and since then his family and party activists had been receiving threats of dire consequences from security agencies. On April 7, 2012, the petitioner claimed, Mr Qureshi fell ill in Sakrand and was taken to a local hospital, where doctors suggested that he was poisoned to death.

The court was informed that the matter was reported to the Sakrand police station but no FIR was registered. “Doctors at the Chandka Medical College Hospital, Larkana, where a post-mortem examination of his body was conducted, confirmed that Mr Qureshi’s death was caused by poison,” the petitioner submitted.

He stated that a 15-member medical board headed by Dr Umer Memon found phosphorus suggestive of organo phosphorus pesticide in the viscera which proved that it was a murder.

The petitioner further stated that neither the autopsy report nor the medical board’s findings were made public or provided to the heirs. The then home minister, Manzoor Wasan, had assured the JSQM leadership that the viscera would be sent to the United Kingdom for an examination and a transparent judicial inquiry into the matter would be held but nothing happened till date.

Not even a murder FIR on behalf of the heirs was registered, he said. Instead, he added, an FIR on the basis of a fabricated story was lodged by the state on March 10, 2012.