Dua Zahra’s father gives her an emotional message

KARACHI: Syed Mehdi Kazmi, the father of Dua Zahra, gave an emotional message to his daughter on Monday assuring her that her family still loves her and he will stand by her.

He was speaking to the media after a medical board report concluded that the age of the teenager— who had gone missing from her Karachi residence in April but was later found to have married Zaheer Ahmed in Lahore — is between 15 to 16 years.

Thanking the Supreme Court, Kazmi said that all the suspects would soon be arrested if the police conduct a fair investigation.

Dua Zahra’s father, who is going pillar to post in the last couple of months to get justice, told her that this is small evidence of his love for her.

“If my daughter is watching me right now, I want to tell her that she will be with me soon, and that she will receive the same amount of love she had before. I am standing with you and the whole family will continue to support you in the future as well,” he said.

Kazmi said that he was satisfied with the report, and demanded that the culprits be now brought to justice.

Speaking on the occasion, Kazmi’s lawyer Jibran Nasir said that all the evidence pointed toward the girl being under 16 years of age.

He said that the report submitted to the court has vindicated the parents’ claim regarding her age.

Slamming the investigating officer of the case, DSP Shaukat Shahani, he claimed that the IO had not conducted a fair investigation into the case, and had been misguiding his high-ups from day one, which resulted in the removal of acting Sindh police chief Kamran Fazal and the transfer of some other officers.

Replying to a question, he said that the IO would submit a supplementary challan in the light of the report, following which the court would decide whether it takes cognizance of the matter or not.

Medical report

In what Dua Zahra’s parents have billed as the vindication of their position, a 10-member medical board formed to determine the age of the teenage girl, has said that she is between 15 and 16 years of age.

The report was submitted to Judicial Magistrate (East) Aftab Ahmed Bughio on Monday.

The board’s consensus opinion is that Dua’s overall age is between 15 and 16 years, nearer to 15 years, based on physical examination and dentition, according to the concluding paragraph of the three-page report.

On the basis of physical examination, the girl’s age is between 15 and 16 years, on the basis of dentition and OPG (orthopantomogram) examination, her dental age is between 13 and 15 years, and on the basis of epiphyseal closure assessed on radiological examination, the bone age is between 16 and 17 years.

“This is an unusual discrepancy,” opined the panel.

It conducted X-rays of her hands, elbows, wrists, pelvis and sternal ends of clavicle. An OPG X-ray of one of her lower mandible premolar teeth was also conducted. The matter will come up for hearing before the magistrate on Wednesday (tomorrow).