A six-member medical board has been formed to perform a post-mortem examination on the body of lawmaker and television personality Dr Aamir Liaquat Hussain on June 23 to determine the "actual cause of death".

The development comes after a Karachi judicial magistrate ordered authorities to conduct a post-mortem on the televangelist's body.

Following Hussain's sudden death on June 9, the police had said an autopsy would be conducted but performed only a preliminary examination before relinquishing custody of the body to his family after they refused an autopsy. He was buried the following day.

In the June 20 order, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com, Karachi Police Surgeon Dr Sumaiyya Syed said that the exhumation team will depart from the office on Thursday (June 23) at 9am for the "exhumation of the grave in the Graveyard of Abdullah Shah Ghazi Shrine in the presence of the judicial magistrate".

The six-member committee comprises Dr Summaiya, Abbasi Shaheed Hospital's additional police surgeon Dr Shahid Nizam, Jinnah Sindh Medical University HOD Dr Pervez Makhdoom, Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Medical College professor Dr Hari Ram Lohana, Civil Hospital's medico-legal officer Dr Gulzar Ali Solangi, and Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center's medico-legal officer Dr Muhammad Areeb Bakhai.

Last week, a citizen named Abdul Ahad had filed an application in the court of Judicial Magistrate (East) Wazeer Hussain Memon, seeking Hussain's post-mortem, arguing that in light of previous "judgments passed by the superior courts, reasonable suspicion is considered to be sufficient, to ascertain the actual cause of death of the deceased to exonerate doubts".

After hearing the arguments, the court decided that while Hussain's children were his grave's custodians, "when the death is suspicious and there are chances of commission of an offence or otherwise, then it is the basic scheme of criminal law that criminal machinery has to be set into motion to unearth fact behind the scene."

It, subsequently, instructed relevant authorities to conduct Hussain's post-mortem examination.

Court issues notices to FIA

Meanwhile, a sessions court in Karachi issued notices to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on a petition filed against Dania Shah, Liaquat's ex-wife.

Earlier, a civil rights organisation that calls itself the "World Human Rights International Pakistan", had approached court requesting the FIA and cybercrime department to initiate an inquiry against Dania.

In its request, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com, the organisation alleged that Dania had uploaded "immoral" videos of her ex-husband on social media which had "given women a new way to take revenge from their husbands".

"What Dania did shamed the women of Pakistan across the world," it added.

On Tuesday, after taking up the petition for hearing, the court issued notices to the FIA and summoned responses over the matter by July 6.

Aamir Liaquat's death

Hussain, 50, had passed away at his house in Karachi's Khudadad Colony earlier this month.

Police had told Dawn at the time that according to his domestic staff, he was not feeling well, but did not go for a medical checkup. His health later deteriorated after which he was taken to the Aga Khan Univ­er­sity Hospital, where he was pronounced as dead.

Police said Hussain’s residence had been sealed for further investigation after a crime scene unit examined the house and collected evidence.

Separately Karachi East Zone DIG Muquddus Haider had told Dawn that there appeared to be no injury marks on his body.

Police Surgeon Dr Summaiya Syed had told Dawn Hussain's body was brought to the Jinnah Post Graduate Medical Centre's emergency ward around 3pm that day, and he was declared dead on arrival. While the body was shifted to the mortuary for completion of medico-legal formalities, the family refused to have an autopsy conducted, she said.

Hussain's former wife, Bushra Iqbal, with whom he had two children, had also confirmed that his "heirs, Ahmad Aamir and Dua Aamir, had refused his post-mortem.

"According to their wishes, the deceased will be taken to his last place of rest with respect," she had said in a post on Instagram.

Iqbal had added that Hussain would be buried at the graveyard at Abdullah Shah Ghazi's shrine.

But his burial had been delayed by hours amid an impasse between police and the deceased's family over the matter of his autopsy.

For their part, police had initiated proceedings under Section 174 (police to inquire to report in suicide, etc) of the Criminal Procedure Code for his post-mortem examination.

The matter was settled after it was taken to a judicial magistrate, before Hussain's heirs had appeared and given their statements on the matter.

Later, police surgeon Dr Summaiya Syed along with the judicial magistrate had reached the morgue where Hussain's body was kept and the body was handed over to the heirs after a preliminary examination.

Hussian was subsequently laid to rest on the premises of Abdullah Shah Ghazi's shrine.