Bodies in gunny bags: K-P Police given until Dec 18 to make headway

PHC informed of no progress in incidents of bodies found dumped.

PESHAWAR:

The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Police have until December 18 to track down the people responsible for dumping bodies in gunny bags around the province.

The K-P police told the Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Tuesday that they had registered cases against unknown people for the murders and have recorded statements of the victims’ legal heirs. Just one person has alleged in his statement that the armed forces are responsible for the murders, Additional Inspector General Investigation (AIG) Idrees Khan told the court.

The AIG added that senior officials had been tasked to look into the issue.

A two-member bench comprising Chief Justice Dost Muhammad Khan and Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth was hearing the case.

More than 26 bodies had been found stuffed in bags, mainly in the suburbs of Khazana, Chamkani and Mathra, as well as the more populated localities of Hayatabad’s phase 6 and 7.

A report about the cases had been prepared by the PHC’s human rights directorate, which was later turned into a human rights petition on August 16. The PHC took suo motu notice of the incidents based on the report.

The bench also reprimanded Director General Health Sharif Khan, saying that doctors had filed forged autopsy reports of the bodies by giving starvation as the reason for death of bodies found in the gunny bags.

CJ Khan ordered that all such doctors be deputed to far-flung hospitals as a message to other medical officials against autopsy report forgery.

On Tuesday, the police also sought time to collect information on illegal detention centres being run in and around the provincial capital.

The bench issued a “final” warning to the investigation team, the health department and the Capital City Police Officer Imtiaz Altaf (for failing to find information on illegal detention centres) before adjourning the case till December 18.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 7^th, 2012.