Sindh HC disposes of plea seeking Pakistani TV host Aamir Liaquat's autopsy

Karachi [Pakistan], July 29 : The Sindh High Court on Thursday disposed of the petition seeking the autopsy and exhumation of televangelist and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) MNA Dr Aamir Liaquat Hussain.
Hussain's children, Ahmed Aamir and Dua Aamir had filed a plea against the exhumation orders passed by the East judicial magistrate and sought its nullification, terming it an un-Islamic act and without the consent of the family, the News International reported.
The high court, however, had suspended the orders and sought arguments on the plea from the parties.
The two-judge bench, headed by Pakistani Justice Muhammad Junaid Ghaffar, heard the plea and disposed of the plea after the parties in the case reached a consensus.
At the outset of today's hearing, Justice Iqbal Kalhoro directed the complainants to approach a sessions court against the orders of the judicial magistrate as the high court cannot be approached in this case directly.
Later, the court wrapped up the case.
Notably, Liaquat Hussain's children had obtained a stay order against a judicial magistrate's order with regard to the exhumation of their father's body to ascertain his cause of death, the News International reported.
The petitioners Ahmed Amir and Dua-e-Amir, children of the late lawmaker, submitted in the petition that their father died on June 9 and they were allowed to bury him after obtaining permission from a judicial magistrate, as legal heirs did not want to conduct an autopsy of the deceased to ascertain his cause of death, the News International reported.
The counsel for Hussain's children submitted that the judicial magistrate had conducted an external examination on the body and allowed burial after completing all codal formalities. He said another judicial magistrate, on an application of a counsel, allowed the exhumation of the body and ordered the constitution of a medical board for the purpose, which was without jurisdiction.
A division bench, headed by Justice Mohammad Iqbal Kalhoro, inquired the petitioner's counsel why the autopsy of the deceased should not have been conducted as it was a legal matter, instead of a matter of family emotions.
Syeda Dania Shah, a widow of the late PTI MNA, filed an application in the Sindh High Court last week for becoming intervenors in the petition of Hussain's children against the exhumation of their father's body and autopsy orders.
She said she wanted to become a necessary party in the petition as she wanted to know the cause of death of her spouse. She requested the court to allow her to become an intervenor in the petition.
On June 9, Pakistan's former Member of the National Assembly (MNA) and popular television host Amir Liaquat, 49, passed away in Karachi under mysterious circumstances.
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader was found unconscious at his home in Khudad Colony and shifted to a private hospital in a critical condition.
The doctors said that Liaquat was dead when he was brought to the hospital.
The body of the PTI lawmaker was handed over to his family for burial only after Judicial Magistrate Naukar Abbas allowed it.