Dr Aftab Qureshi’s murder: Court to grill Karachi police officers

Hyderabad sessions judge calls AVCC, CPLC officials in judicial probe into surgeon’s killing.

HYDERABAD:

A court has summoned police officials of Karachi over the botched operation to rescue kidnapped neurosurgeon Dr Aftab Qureshi.

Officers of the Anti-Violent Crime Cell (AVCC) and the Citizens-Police Liaison Committee (CPLC) were put on notice by Hyderabad additional district and sessions judge, Aijaz Khaskheli, who is conducting a judicial inquiry into the matter.

The court also asked Qureshi’s son to record his statement on July 16.

Seventeen days after he was abducted from Karachi, the professor was killed on May 29 during an AVCC and CPLC raid to rescue him in a bungalow in Abdullah Valley, Hyderabad. A policeman and a suspected kidnapper were also killed in the operation, which was later questioned by the Pakistan Medical Association alleging that Qureshi was hit by a bullet fired by the police. A suo motu case has already been taken by the Sindh High Court. Qureshi headed the neurosurgery institute at Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences (LUMHS) in Jamshoro.

The provincial home ministry has tasked the Hyderabad district and sessions court with the inquiry, which will be completed in 30 days.

On Saturday, Khaskheli heard the account of LUMHS Registrar Muhammad Saleh Rajjar.

The court will also record the testimonies of the incident’s witnesses, who may include residents of the housing society and the Hyderabad police personnel, who joined the operation while it was already under way.

The Hyderabad police had arrested six suspects allegedly involved in the kidnapping. They were later handed over to the Karachi police for interrogation as the surgeon’s kidnapping case was registered with the Brigade police.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 8^th, 2012.