Murtaza Bhutto

POSTMORTEM IS PRACTICALLY DONE BY US
KARACHI, Dec 24, 1996: Testifying before the tribunal of inquiry,
investigating into the circumstances leading to the murder of Mir Murtaza
Bhutto and seven others, Dr Nizamuddin Memon, police surgeon of Karachi,
said on Tuesday the postmortem on the body of Mir "could not be termed a
postmortem as such."
"The required practice was not followed and there was no dissection of his
body or face, because of the fear that his face should not be distorted," the
police surgeon, who has been working in this position since Sept 10 last in
BPS 20, said. He told the three-member tribunal comprising, Justice Nasir
Aslam Zahid, judge of the Supreme Court; Justice Amanullah Abbasi, and
Justice (Dr) Ghous Mohammad, that "in the strict sense of the word that was
not a postmortem, because what we wanted to know was gathered that
(gunshot wounds) was the cause of death.
Q: You wanted to check on superficial examination of the body about the
injuries?
A: We were satisfied that the cause of death was ascertained. It was not a
postmortem, but a formal examination for assessing the cause of death. We
got a death certificate from the hospital plus whatever was superficially seen
and examined was sufficient to establish the cause of death. There were eight
injuries on his body, two of which proved fatal, one bullet entry wound and
the other exit wound. The bullet had entered from the right side of his ear
and exited from the left side of the neck.
Q: Have you done any postmortems in your medical career?
A: No. I have supervised such postmortems in more than 50 cases.
Q: How many visits you have made to the mortuaries in the past three
months?
A: At least three.
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