Arshad Sharif’s Mother requests an autopsy report from IHC on a murder case.
- The petition says the family has repeatedly contacted PIMS management but they have neither provided report nor refused to give it.
- Petitioner says she fears the autopsy will be altered to distort facts.
- Says report should be given to family and not made public.
Arshad Sharif’s mother, Riffat Ara Alvi, has petitioned the Islamabad High Court (IHC) for her son’s autopsy report.
According to Riffat Ara’s petition, the family’s point of contact had requested the postmortem report from the appropriate authorities on November 3. They contacted the administration but were told the report had been sent to the police.
According to The News reporting, she added that the police had also rejected the family’s point person and directed them to the administration.
The petition states that the family has frequently contacted the administration of the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), but they have neither given the report nor refused to do so. According to the appeal, Arshad Sharif’s family was “humiliated” by the PIMS and local authorities for being “kept in the dark” about the post-mortem findings.
According to the petitioner, they should be kept in the loop at all times to prevent any appearance of bias in the autopsy. Riffat Ara asked that there be no outside interference in the process and that the family’s designated point person be involved from the start.
The petitioner asked that the postmortem report for Arshad Sharif be given to his family and not made public without their consent. Arshad’s mom had already written a petition to Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial asking for a judicial commission investigation into her son’s death.
To “shield the case from controversy and political hypocrisy and ensure justice for the family,” she had pleaded with CJ Bandial. She said that the Kenyan police had altered its position on the journalist’s death “three to four times,” and she claimed that federal ministers “made stories” before the departure of the investigating team, some of which are on the public record.
So that “the feeling of uneasiness among the family members of Shaheed Arshad Sharif along with the journalism community is taken care of,” she has asked for the establishment of a high-powered judicial commission.
The mother of the murdered journalist stated this was her “first and the last letter, begging for justice in line with the law,” expressing the hope that her message would not be ignored in the same way that her son’s letter was.
“Otherwise, I rest my case to Allah SWT waiting for His justice,” she said.
