Arshad Sharif’s mother moves IHC for post-mortem report

ISLAMABAD: Slain journalist Arshad Sharif’s mother Riffat Ara Alvi approached the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday to get the post-mortem report of her deceased son.

Riffat Ara submitted the biometric verification as a petitioner. In her petition, she stated that the focal person of their family had sought a post-mortem report from the local administration on November 3.

It maintained that the administration had, however, told them that they do not have the report and that it was with the police. She furthered that when the family’s focal person went to the police, they also turned them away and told the deceased’s family to contact the administration.

According to the petition, the family has repeatedly contacted the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) management but they have neither provided the report nor denied it. “The PIMS and local administration have kept Arshad Sharif’s family in the dark about the post-mortem report and humiliated them during this difficult time,” said the application.

The petitioner said she fears that the autopsy will be altered to distort the facts and, thus, they should be kept informed at all times to ensure transparency. Riffat Ara requested that the entire process be carried out without any third-party intervention and that the focal person of the family is included in the entire process.

“The postmortem report should be provided to Arshad Sharif’s family and should not be made public without the family’s permission,” requested the petitioner. Earlier, Arshad’s mother had penned a letter to Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial requesting him to form a high-level judicial commission to probe her son’s death.

She had urged CJ Bandial to “protect the case from controversy and political hypocrisy and provide justice to the family”. She had stated that Kenyan police have changed its position “three to four times” regarding the circumstances surrounding the journalist’s killing and had alleged that federal ministers have also “fabricated stories” before the departure of the investigation team that are already on “media record”.

She has sought a high-powered judicial commission “so that the feeling of insecurity amongst the family members of Shaheed Arshad Sharif along with the journalist community is taken care of”.

Expressing the hope her letter would not be ignored in the same manner that her son’s letter was, the slain journalist’s mother had said this was her “first and last letter, requesting for justice in accordance with the law”. “Otherwise, I rest my case to Allah SWT waiting for His justice,” she had stated.