KARACHI, Aug 30: A Sindh High Court inquiry tribunal investigating the April 9, 2008 violence will next week examine doctors who treated the injured and received dead bodies of the people killed during large-scale violence in different parts of the city including Tahir Plaza, where six persons were burnt to death in an arson attack.

Ii will also examine those firefighters who took part in the rescue operations.

The tribunal, headed by Justice Nadeem Azhar Siddiqui, adjourned on Saturday its proceedings till Sept 6, when in open proceedings it would start examining the witnesses of the day-long violence, when 10 people were killed and more than 50 vehicles were set on fire.

In the brief proceedings, the tribunal received affidavits of witnesses submitted by SSP Niaz Khoso, who is working with the tribunal as a liaison officer, on behalf of the witnesses.

“Today (Saturday) we submitted affidavits of total 33 witnesses,” Additional Advocate-General Sarwar Khan, who has been appointed to assist the tribunal, told reporters outside the judge’s chamber after attending the proceedings. “Sept 6 has been set as the next date for proceedings, when the tribunal will examine firefighters and doctors, who are among the 33 witnesses.”

He said the tribunal had also sought affidavits from the SP special branch, SP security and SP CID, which would be submitted on the next date of proceedings by the liaison officer, as they were likely to be examined later.

It was the tribunal’s third hearing since it was established in June by the Sindh government with the terms of reference being “to find out (the) reasons and people behind the widespread violence in which 10 people were killed and more than 50 vehicles were set on fire.”

It was initially asked to come up with a report within two weeks but it took more than a month to fix the first hearing, on Aug 6.

The move to initiate a judicial inquiry into the April 9 violence came from the Pakistan People’s Party-led provincial administration after more than two months of the incident, following serious criticism from political quarters and the legal fraternity.

However, with the latest directives from Justice Siddiqui, officials believe the tribunal would hold open proceedings from the next due date. Mr Khan said the witnesses called for Sept 6 included all those doctors who – one way or the other – came in contact with the victims.

“Those (doctors) who treated the injured or conducted post-mortem of the dead bodies are among the witnesses and will be here on Sept 6. The firefighters who conducted rescue operations in Tahir Plaza or other parts of the city on that particular day (April 9) are also among the witnesses,” he added.

At least 10 people lost their lives – six of them burnt to death in an arson attack on Tahir Plaza on M.A. Jinnah Road – when violence erupted in the city after groups of lawyers clashed at the City Courts a day after the manhandling of former federal minister Dr Sher Afgan Khan Niazi in Lahore.

Though the inquiry tribunal did not receive any response from members of the public for evidence and relevant information despite repeated requests, the police authorities have managed to compile data of 33 persons, who would be examined as witnesses to help the tribunal reach a conclusion.

Among the 33 witnesses, whose affidavits were submitted by the liaison officer SSP Khoso, 14 include station house officers of different police stations, seven doctors posted at Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, Civil Hospital and Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, five police officers deputed in different parts of the city, four firefighters, two volunteers of Chhipa Ambulance Service and a minibus driver.

The police record suggests that a total of 34 FIRs were registered for violence on April 9 in different parts of the city, which included killing of 10 people and severe damage caused to public and private property.

The police also gathered figures, which showed that a total of five people were wounded in the day-long violence and a total of 61 vehicles were set on fire while four incidents were listed in the ‘other’ cases of arson.