Murtaza Bhutto

MEDICAL BOARD RESERVES FINDINGS IN
MURTAZA CASE
By Sarfaraz Ahmed
KARACHI, Sept 30, 1996: A largely expanded special medical board which
examined ASP Shahid Hayat Khan at the Services Hospital on Monday
reserved its findings for presentation to the tribunal of inquiry set up to
investigate the killing of Murtaza Bhutto and seven others outside 70 Clifton
10 days ago.
According to reliable sources, the board which completed its inquiry under
the chairmanship of Prof. Karim Siddiqui, head of the department, surgery of
Dow Medical College, arrived at the unanimous conclusion that
a) it was a gunshot injury,
b) there is no shadow of doubt that it was not a self-inflicted wound
and
c) the police official was fired at from a distance of four to five feet.
The eight-page report written by orthopedic surgeon, Mohammad Ali Shah,
said it was a superficial wound that only razed the skin and the subcutaneous
layer of the middle left thigh where the bullet made a tunnel, and did not
cause any harm to the muscles. The members of the board had a good look at
the injury and concluded that it was bruising with a discoloration of the skin
around it.
The board could not determine why the colour of the pants of the official
which was dark brown and not the khaki until the ASP said that he was not
wearing the uniform when the shoot-out took place. But, there was
uniformity in the hole in the pants and location of the injury.
A biopsy could not take place because the 10-day-old wound had been
stitched—a fact which was also corroborated by the medico-legal officer of
the JMPC who had gone to Aga Khan Hospital on police request on Sept 21.
The MLO had written in his report that the depth of the wound could not be
ascertained, and the history of the injury he described as "firing as alleged."
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