The crime scene raises numerous questions that remain unanswered, even eight weeks after the incident
KARACHI: This is in response to the news item “Trainee civil servant dies of burns” (October 16). Being the unfortunate mother of the departed soul, I received the biggest shock of my life on October 15. But the sequence of events that followed and the manipulation of the whole scenario, where the police suggested that she had committed suicide, was an even bigger torture for me.
A few of the many glimpses of Nabiha’s mood, the very day she died, strongly contradict the assertions that she committed suicide: photographs clicked by chance just a few hours before she died, which show her having a nice time with one of her female batchmates; her merry and light conversations with her family and close friends up to 20 minutes prior to the tragic incident; her two-hour discussion with one of her lecturers about her posting to the navy or army audits upon completion of training. All these incidents have been confirmed by not only her batchmates but the directors of the academy too, where she was receiving her training. Does all this not show her positive spirit towards life and her future?
On the said day, the news of her death was given to me by a senior official from the Audit and Accounts Civil Services Academy in Lahore in a very blunt manner without a word of sympathy. He said that there has been a fire in Nabiha’s room due to which she had expired. Within half an hour of the incident, her death was declared a suicide without any investigation being carried out. I find all this extremely suspicious and unbelievable.
The crime scene raises numerous questions that remain unanswered, even eight weeks after the incident. The entire room was in perfect order except for the broken glass door at one end of the room, which was at quite a distance from where Nabiha’s body was found. Those who have a physical sciences and engineering background know that petrol fires DO NOT cause blasts, while witnesses say they heard a blast from her room. It is improbable, based on scientific reasons, that the glass door could be broken by vapours emitting from a one litre bottle of petrol (which according to the police was found in the room) in a room measuring not more than 50 square feet. How did the blast occur and how was the glass door broken?
If petrol had been used, then how come nothing in the room, except for Nabiha’s body, caught fire? Also, an almost full bottle of petrol was found in the room. If hardly any petrol had been used from the bottle, what had been used that caused the blast? Would the highly flammable liquid bottle not catch fire in such a high-temperature environment?
According to the police, there were no torture marks on the body. Well, bodies can be burnt in order to erase evidence of physical torture. Fire can destroy most ligature marks. Does Pakistan have the equipment to test for blunt force trauma on charred remains? I am sure this is not the case.
Above all, the so-called (very few) reports that have been handed over to the family, after much hue and cry, lack even the most basic of information that even a layman would know should be included in an investigation report. Finger/footprint forensics have not been performed on the crime scene. Should these not have been performed irrespective of whether the police believed Nabiha had committed suicide or not? The reports seem to have been written by an amateur as they are completely disconnected from the crime scene. Very basic and important tests have not been performed. Is an investigation without the presence of basic forensics and other reports not questionable?
Most importantly, do people like Nabiha whose services have been highlighted in the media, whose patriotism towards Pakistan was exemplary and who was running a free school in a remote area of Sindh besides being involved in other social work endeavours, deserve such a lousy investigation? Does the “Exemplary Conduct” award holder of the Civil Services Training deserve such allegations without investigation? Justice delayed is justice denied.
Simeen Saleem
Published in The Express Tribune, December 14th, 2014.
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