Salmaan Taseer’s murder: IHC forms medical board to examine Qadri

Counsel says he has lost weight drastically due to health problems.

ISLAMABAD:

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) ordered on Wednesday the constitution of a medical board to examine the health of Malik Mumtaz Qadri, the self-confessed killer of late Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer.

Hearing a petition filed by Qadri, the bench directed Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) Executive Director Professor Riaz Ahmed Warraich to constitute a board comprising a cardiologist, a gastroenterologist and a dental special specialist. After examining Qadri, the board will submit a report to the court.

Last month, the bench issued a notice to the federation, directing it to submit a report on Qadri’s health in response to his petition.

During Wednesday’s hearing, the counsel for the federation Sahabzada Raees Ahmed submitted a medical report, which claimed that Qadri’s health was satisfactory. Ahmed further informed the court that Qadri was being treated by doctors at the Adiala Jail as well.

Qadri’s attorney Justice (retd) Mian Nazir, however, opposed the report claiming that his client’s health has deteriorated over the last six months.

He maintained that Qadri has lost weight drastically due to cardiac and gastrointestinal problems, adding that his client’s health showed no signs of improvement despite using medicines prescribed by the jail doctors.

Qadri was sentenced to death by a Rawalpindi anti-terrorism court after he confessed to killing Taseer. Part of Taseer’s security entourage at the time, he shot him 27 times in Islamabad on January 4, 2011.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 6^th, 2012.