Court sets aside magistrate’s order for exhumation of Aamir Liaquat’s body

A sessions court on Tuesday set aside a judicial magistrate’s June 18 order for the exhumation of the late Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MNA and television host Dr Aamir Liaquat Hussain’s body for an autopsy.

Additional Sessions Judge-II (East) Ghulam Mustafa Laghari announced his verdict on a criminal revision application filed by children of the former lawmaker, Dua-e-Aamir and Ahmed Aamir, after hearing arguments of the counsel for the parties.

On June 18, Judicial Magistrate East Wazeer Hussain Memon had ordered the exhumation of Hussain’s body for an autopsy, observing that the cause of his death was still uncertain, which itself had raised the question whether it was natural or unnatural, and that it could only be ascertained after the exhumation of the body and its examination. He had passed this order on an application moved by a citizen, Abdul Ahad. “I am of the humble view that the trial court has committed material irregularity and illegality in passing the impugned order dated 18.06.2022, which is illegal and is hereby set aside and the application is hereby allowed,” ruled Judge Laghari on Tuesday.

He noted that Ahad was a stranger and had no relationship with Hussain, adding that he had also posted messages on social media which showed that he had no good terms with the deceased and proved the family’s contention that he intended to disgrace the lawmaker’s body.

Advocate Zia Ahmed Awan, the counsel for the applicant, had argued that the magistrate, while entertaining the application filed by Ahad, bitterly failed to understand that his court had become functus officio in the matter as his link judge had already allowed the family to bury the body of the deceased; therefore, the application should have been dismissed and, in case of any grievance, the citizen should have approached the appellate forum. He claimed that neither the family of the deceased nor the police found any evidence arousing suspicion as to the cause of his death.