Murtaza Bhutto

could not have opened fire on the motorcade if they had known that it was
Murtaza's. Other said that they had fired in panic and in self-defence. Senior
police officials were tight-lipped about the tragedy.
When Murtaza was rushed to the Mideast hospital in an official car, sources
said, that blood was oozing out from Murtaza's mouth. He tried to throw
away the oxygen mask but the doctors kept putting it back. He then collapsed
and lost consciousness. At this time Murtaza s wife Ghinva and daughter
Fatimah reached the hospital. Both of them were crying. They were ordered
out of the ICU, where the only official present was the Deputy Commissioner
South Arif Elahi.
Soon the specialist doctors from Jinnah Hospital reached the Mideast
Hospital, where the bullet-ridden body of Murtaza was taken. But no
anesthetist was available at the hospital, which normally does not treat
medico-legal cases. Mir Murtaza received bullets on his collarbone, chest, leg
and in abdomen. His body refused to accept blood transfusion while he was
being operated upon. Doctors revived Murtaza's heart once when it stopped
but failed to do so the second time.
The only surviving son of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto died at 11:45pm but his death
was announced at 12:25am by the hospital authorities.
Police said Murtaza's followers who were in three cars returning from a party
fired first when asked to stop. Police returned fire, killing six people all
members of Murtaza's faction. This was confirmed by the Deputy Inspector
General of police Shoaib Suddle. He further said that the police had insisted
on checking the vehicles because of tightened security after two bomb blasts
in Karachi on Wednesday the 18th September 1996 in which one person was
killed and at least four others were wounded.
Meanwhile, the body of the Murtaza Bhutto will be taken for burial on
Saturday by air to Larkano. He will be laid to rest at the family graveyard in
Garhi Khuda Buksh near Larkano, Sindh.
The party activists who were wounded identified as Dr Mazhar Memon, Siraj
Hyder, Ismail, Ayaz, Asghar and Bachhal. The policemen who received bullet
injuries were ASP Saddar Shahid Hayat SHO Clifton Haq Nawaz Sayyal and
SHO Napier Junaid. Two injured remained unidentified. The injured were
shifted to the Aga Khan Hospital and Civil Hospital.
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