Judicial commission to probe senator Usman Kakar's death

A judicial commission will be formed to probe the death of senator Usman Khan Kakar of the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party, the Balochistan government announced on Sunday.

According to a notification from the government's Home and Tribal Affairs Department to the Registrar of the Balochistan High Court, it is proposed that the commission include two judges from the court, namely Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan and Justice Zaheer Ud Din Kakar.

The notification observed that the senator "passed away on June 23", following which his family "claims that the death seems to be unnatural and merits inquiry for the cause of death".

It further noted that keeping in view the importance of the case, a judicial commission may be constituted under Sub Section-1 of Section (3) Of the Balochistan Tribunals of Inquiry Ordinance 1969, comprising the aforementioned judges, who will ascertain the cause of death of the late senator.

It requested that the nominations be conveyed to the honourable judges so that the commission be notified.

Senators demand probe

At the time of his death, it was reported by Information-Secretary PkMAP Reza Mohammad Reza said that Kakar was undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Karachi after a fall.

Several senators from both sides of the divide paid tributes to the late senator in a session of the parliament and the House adopted a unanimous resolution expressing profound grief over Kakar’s demise.

Former deputy chairman and PPP Senator Salim Mandviwalla said Kakar’s son and other family members told him at the hospital in Karachi that they want to find out the actual cause of death and whether he has been murdered.

The PPP senator said that the surgeon, who had come from Quetta, told him that the kind of head injury and blood clotting that was seen in Kakar's head "is not possible from falling down".

He said his family members want his postmortem and that he was alone at home at that time of the incident.

Autopsy reveals no signs of torture

According to the autopsy report, a copy of which is available with Geo News, no sign of torture were found on Kakar's body. The only marks found on the body were from surgery and intravenous (IV) cannulation during his treatment at the hospital.

The actual cause of death will be declared in a pathology report, for which several samples were collected from the body.

After the completion of the autopsy, Kakar's body was handed over to his family to carry out the burial. Kakar's family said that they will get the pathological samples counter-checked.