PESHAWAR, June 26: A Peshawar High Court bench on Wednesday directed the commandant officer of Combined Military Hospital, Peshawar to produce the report of the postmortem of a solider, who died under mysterious circumstances at Bacha Khan International Airport three years ago.

Chief Justice Dost Mohammad Khan and Justice Asadullah Khan Chamkani also asked the defence ministry to give its version about the death through the attorney general’s office.

The bench was hearing an application filed with the human rights directorate of the court by Zeeshan Anwar about the death of his brother, Lance Naik Jibran Anwar. The court had converted the said application into a writ petition and began hearing.

The petitioner said his brother was on duty in the Army Air Defence at Bacha Khan International Airport.

He said on April 25, 2010, a military official first told him over the telephone that his brother had suffered injures and was taken to CMH and later said he had expired. The petitioner said he had yet not been informed about the real cause of death.

He said the relevant army officials first told him that an inquiry had been conducted into the death and that the killers, also from within the army, were court-martialed, but later retracted the statement saying his brother had committed suicide by using official G-3 rifle.

The petitioner said the army officials first told him that his brother had died on duty and therefore, his family would be compensated, but later said since his brother had committed suicide, his family was not entitled to compensation.

He said his brother was only 23 and had not been suffering from depression or any mental illness that could have made him end life.

The petitioner pleaded that the court learn about the real cause of his brother’s death from the autopsy report before making it public andorder the relevant authorities to provide the permissible compensation to his brother’s family. —Bureau Report