Court orders transportation of deceased tribesman’s body to Dera Bugti

The IDP’s body was not being released by the city administration.

ISLAMABAD:

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday directed capital administration officials to cooperate with a deceased Bugti tribesman’s family and transport the body to their hometown. 

The court disposed of a petition asking for recovery of the tribesman’s body after police assured their cooperation in the matter.

The body of Gul Sher, an IDP who died on July 3 of natural causes, was not being released by the Islamabad administration from the morgue of Shifa International Hospital.

The Inspector General of Police (IGP) Bani Amin Khan assured the court that the body would be shifted to the deceased’s native town of Dera Bugti.

Top officials including the IGP, Islamabad Chief Commissioner Jawad Paul and City Assistant Commissioner Muhammad Ali appeared before the court on Tuesday, after being summoned the day before. The petition was filed by Jamhoori Watan Party (JWP) leader Nawabzada Gohram Bugti, who sought the recovery of Gul Sher’s body.



During the hearing, Khan informed the court that from day one, the police were facilitating the protesters and also provided the best treatment to the deceased in Shifa hospital, claiming further that all treatment expenses were borne by the federal government.

He further said that the tribesmen wanted to protest in the red zone after taking the body, which the city administration could not allow.

Paul maintained that the administration was cooperating with the deceased’s family, however, they wanted to take the body to D-chowk for staging a demonstration, which would be a security threat. He assured the court that the body would be shifted to their native village whenever the family is interested.

Over 200 IDPs from Dera Bugti have been protesting against the Islamabad administration for its refusal to hand over the body since July 3.

In May this year, IDPs from Dera Bugti, Balochistan, had established a protest camp in front of the National Press Club in Islamabad to demand their right to return to their native area, which has been declared unsafe by the government due to military action in the area.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 10^th, 2013.