Murtaza Bhutto

MEDICAL BOARDS' REPORTS PLACED BEFORE
TRIBUNAL
KARACHI, Dec 26, 1996: The police surgeon of Karachi, Dr. Nizamuddin
Memon, on Thursday submitted three reports before the three- member
judicial inquiry tribunal, which is conducting investigations into the murder
of Mir Murtaza Bhutto. The reports pertained to the findings of the
independent medical boards constituted by the government concerning the
injuries to two senior police officers - ASP Shahid Hayat Khan, and the late
inspector Haq Nawaz Sial, the then SHO of Clifton police station - on Sept 20.
Sial had suffered another wound, which proved fatal, a week later.
The witness submitted the reports of the medical boards, of which he was a
member, and described the injury in the left thigh of ASP Shahid Hayat as a
gunshot wound. The first injury on the left foot of inspector Sial on Sept 20 at
the place of incident was described as a self-suffered wound; and the second
fatal wound seven days later was homicidal. ASP Shahid Hayat Khan's
statement before the medical board was also taken into consideration before
finalizing the report, in which the police officer now under arrest on the
charge of murder had stated that he was standing at a distance of four feet
from Mir Murtaza's men on the main road and the first fire was directed
towards him when his back was towards the people who fired at him,
resulting in a wound on his left thigh. The report said: "At the time he was in
civilian dress. He fell on the ground and later crawled towards his men and
took position behind a tree. He called for an APC but before that could arrive,
he was taken to AKUH in a mobile."
The opinion of the medical board was that it was a case of firearm injury and
the entry and exit wounds on the thigh indicated that he was fired from
behind. It was fired from a distance of two to three feet and the wound
measured 15 cm. The medicolegal officer, Dr. Ghulam Sarwar Channa, had in
his evidence described the wound as 7.4 cm long and he had checked it with
his finger in the absence of a measuring tape. The nine-member board
comprised Dr. S. M. A. Shah, Dr. Tariq Mirza, Dr. Azhar Husain, Dr. Mateen
A. Khan, Dr. Mohammad Ishaque Shaikh, Dr. Mushtaq Ahmed, Dr. Shuja H.
Khan, Dr. M. Umer Baloch, and Dr. (Capt.) Nizamuddin Memon.
The second medical board constituted by the government of Sindh in the case
had opined: "Keeping in view the direction and nature of the wound on the
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