MYSTERIOUS DEATH OF CANADIAN
Top Pakistani court enters investigation
The Globe and Mail, Monday, June 25, 2007
SONYA FATAH
NEW DELHI — The Supreme Court of Pakistan has taken notice of the investigation into the death of a Canadian businesswoman, asking the Inspector General of Police and other officials to appear before the Chief Justice on Friday.
Pakistan’s former state minister, Muhammad Shahid Jamil Qureshi, arrested late last week after rejection of pretrial bail in connection with Kafila Siddiqui’s death, was moved from the local police station to a VIP wing at the Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology after doctors said he is unwell.
The move has given police detectives more time to investigate Ms. Siddiqui’s death, as it has delayed the four-day police remand ordered by the judge.
Meanwhile, Ms. Siddiqui’s husband, Salman Qaiser, is in Karachi finalizing permission for an exhumation of his wife’s body and a second autopsy.
Ms. Siddiqui’s death remains shrouded in mystery more than a week after the minister brought her body to a leading government hospital.
Mr. Qureshi’s arrest is among the most high-profile arrests in recent Pakistani history. At the time of Ms. Siddiqui’s death, he was a sitting minister and a member of the Pakistan Muslim League, the current governing party.
Mr. Qureshi submitted his resignation, which was accepted by President Pervez Musharraf a day before the session judge dismissed the former minister’s bail plea.
In his argument before the additional sessions judge in Islamabad on Friday, the lawyer for Ms. Siddiqui’s family, Zaheeruddin Babar, alleged that the medical legal report, or the MLR, issued by the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences was prepared under pressure after Mr. Qureshi, a sitting minister at the time, used his influence.
A series of medial examinations have failed to determine the cause of death. The reports indicate that Ms. Siddiqui was in good health and that all her organs were healthy at the time of death.
A chemical examiner’s report stated that there was no poison found in Ms. Siddiqui’s vomit. Samples of blood found on her clothes have been forwarded to a serologist for further examination.
Mr. Babar told the judge that the Mr. Qureshi’s brother, a senior superintendent with Punjab police, had influenced the outcome of the chemical examiner’s report, which was sent to Lahore.
Mr. Babar also argued that the postmortem report omitted details imperative to the case, such as bruises on Ms. Siddiqui’s forehead, and that police gave the judge a photograph of Ms. Siddiqui’s bruised forehead as evidence.
A senior doctor at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences agreed that the postmortem had not been properly carried out.
“The doctors were told that the report should state that Kafila’s condition was normal,” he said.
The postmortem, he said, was a hurried affair. No blood, hair or urine samples were sent for further examination. And the report did not mention the bruises he noticed on Ms. Siddiqui’s face.
Mr. Qureshi, who has been booked under Sections 344 and 346 of the Pakistani penal code for illegal confinement, is alleged to have held her against her will.
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