Murtaza Bhutto

DMC PROFESSOR ADMITS HE MADE A WRONG
STATEMENT
By H. A. Hamied
KARACHI, Jan 5, 1997: A fourth medical board was also constituted by the
government of Sindh after the Sept 20 killings to determine whether Mideast
Medical Centre, where Mir Murtaza Bhutto was admitted after the police
firing, had proper medical facilities or not. This was disclosed by Prof Abdul
Karim Siddiqui, professor and head of the department of surgery, Dow
Medical College, Karachi, before a three-member judicial tribunal which is
investigating the causes of death of Mir Murtaza. The tribunal comprises
Justice Nasir Aslam Zahid, judge of the Supreme Court; Justice Amanullah
Abbasi, and Justice (Dr) Ghous Mohammad, judges of the High Court of
Sindh. He did not elaborate further and the tribunal asked him to produce
documents relating to the composition of the board and its findings by
Monday morning.
Justice N. A. Zahid observed that it has been revealed for the first time that
such a medical board was constituted by the government and it had
submitted its report. Dr Siddiqui said this was the fourth medical board
constituted after the Sept 20 killings, the first was created to examine the left
foot bullet wound of Haq Nawaz Sial, SHO of Clifton police station; the
second for examining the postmortem report on his body after his death six
days later; and the third was in connection with the bullet injuries to the left
thigh of ASP Shahid Hayat.
The 58-year-old surgeon was asked if there was any single incident during his
entire career that a medical board's finding once made and initialled by all the
members, was attempted to be revised. He said he could not recollect any
such incident in the past and the witness was being questioned by the
tribunal as to why it took seven days to type a report which was finalised and
signed by all members of the board.
The tribunal told him that was it not a fact that the delay was caused in
submitting the report to the government not because of typing but due to
altering its contents in connection with the injuries of ASP Shahid Hayat.
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