Senators seek inquiry into Kakar’s death

ISLAMABAD: Talking of the murky and mysterious circumstances leading to his death, legislators in the Senate on Monday demanded an inquiry to find out the real cause of the death of Senator Usman Khan Kakar of the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party.

Several senators from both sides of the divide paid tributes to the late senator and at the end, 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 what is the cause of death and that he has been murdered. The PPP senator continued that the surgeon, who had come from Quetta, told him that the kind of head injury and blood clotting seen in his head could not be possible by falling down. He said his family members want his postmortem and that he was alone at home at that time.

There was also a demand that a house committee should be formed for an independent inquiry into the matter. Former inspector general of Police, Punjab, and PML-N Senator Rana Maqbool termed Kakar an ambassador of truth and said the information earlier received about Kakar suggested that he either had brain hemorrhage or a blood clot, but later it emerged he received an injury, which he noted was a question mark. He called for an investigation to ascertain the facts.

PPP Senator Bahramand Tangi endorsed the proposal for inquiry and noted that if the family members of Kakar are demanding autopsy, they should get the right. He hoped that the Senate chairman being the custodian of the House will play his role in this connection.

Senator Ataur Rahman of the JUI-F underlined the need for an investigation to bring forth the truth and said Kakar used to challenge the establishment and had received threats. He said it appears that some incident took place. He said efforts had been made in the past as well to suppress the voices of dissent.

Senator Kauda Babar said he personally regards post-mortem as desecration of body, but said it should be done if his family has doubts. He also suggested that a report should be summoned from the hospital where he breathed his last, if deemed appropriate.

PML-N’s Mushahid Hussain Syed paid tributes to Kakar for being the voice of the voiceless and oppressed people of Pakistan, who talked about democracy and rule of law within the Constitution. He talked about the murky and mysterious circumstances leading to his death.

ANP Senator Umer Farooq said Kakar never talked about the break-up of the country. Wishing that an accident would be the cause of Kakar’s death, he called for a free and fair investigation into the development.

PML-N’s Kamran Michael said the family’s grievances must be addressed and a committee should be formed to investigate the matter. Professor Sajid Mir said a formal inquiry should ascertain why and how all this happened. National Party Senator Muhammad Akram contended that the sudden death of Kakar while he was all alone at home is mysterious. He also backed the demand for inquiry. He recalled that Kakar in his last speech on the floor of the Senate had said that those against whom he speaks will be responsible if anything wrong happens to him.

Chairman Senate Standing Committee on Human Rights Senator Walid Iqbal said his committee is ready to investigate the matter, if need be. Senator Nuzhat Sadiq of the PML-N said Kakar’s death is an irreparable loss as he always stood for the federation.