KARACHI: A local court on Saturday ordered health and police authorities to exhume the body of Dr Aamir Liaquat Hussain for a post-mortem examination to determine the ‘actual cause of death’.

Judicial Magistrate (South) Wazeer Hus­­sain Memon passed the order while allo­wing an application moved by a citizen, Abdul Ahad, who approached the court as a fan of the religious celebrity-turned-politician and requested court to order a post-mortem examination of the deceased to determine the actual cause of his ‘sudden’ death.

Dr Hussain was found dead at his Karachi residence on June 9 under mysterious circumstances.

The applicant’s counsel, Barrister Arsalan Raja, contended that the mysterious and sudden death of Dr Hussain had raised reasonable suspicions among citizens of Karachi that someone had committed his murder on the pretext of a property dispute.

He argued that the process of ascertaining the actual cause of death could not be left untouched without a logical end, especially when the actual cause of death was uncertain.

During the hearing, Dr Hussain’s son Ahmed Aamir and daughter Dua Aamir, who were summoned by the court, strongly opposed the plea, objecting that the applicant had no locus standi to file such an application. “If the present application is allowed, it would disgrace the grave of the deceased, which they do not want at any cost,” opined the children, pleading with the court to dismiss the same.

The judge noted that before the filing of the instant application, Brigade police SHO had moved an application to the court under Section 174(1)(a)(b)(c) of the Criminal Procedure Code on June 10 on which the judicial magistrate concerned had ordered initiating proceedings in the mortuary of Chhipa in the presence of the SHO, Medico-Legal Officer, and legal heirs of the deceased.

“Where after, the body was externally examined and the legal heirs of the deceased filed an application stating that they did not want a post-mortem on the deceased,” he added.

He said upon such external examination of the body, a medico-legal certificate was issued on June 10, wherein the police surgeon opined that “on the basis of external examination, nothing can be opined regarding the cause of death”.

“Thereafter, the politician-turned-celebrity’s body was handed over to the legal heirs for burial on the premises of the shri­­ne of the saint, Hazrat Abdullah Shah Ghazi. Therefore, it is crystal clear that the cause of death of the deceased is still uncertain, which itself has raised the question of whether the death was natural or unnatural and could only be ascertained after the exhumation of the body and its examination.”

The judge ruled: “In the given facts and circumstances of the case in hand and particularly in the light of guidelines settled by Superior Courts on the subject, I am of the considered view that the disinterment of the dead body of deceased Dr Aamir Liaquat Hussain is inevitable to determine the actual cause of his death in order to remove suspicions and clouds of doubt over his death.”

While allowing the plea, the judge directed the provincial health secretary to constitute a medical board and fix a date for the exhumation of the body of the deceased under intimation to the court.

Brigade police SHO was also directed to make arrangements in accordance with the law.

Published in Dawn, June 19th, 2022