Experts cast doubts over govt claims

By Ahmed Hassan

ISLAMABAD, Dec 29: Forensic experts have expressed doubts about the government’s claims that PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto was fatally injured by the sunroof hook of the bullet-proof vehicle.

Dr Shoaib Shah said on Saturday that under the law, the state was bound to hold an autopsy before allowing burial and at least one forensic examiner should have been part of the team examining the body.

He said that no sunroof hook could damage the skull so much that a person could die. These doubts could easily have been laid to rest if an autopsy had been performed, he said.

Interestingly, government’s spokesman Brig Cheema tried to shut out questions raised by the media about the cause of Benazir’s death.

Experts said the greatest blunder committed by the government was that it allowed buril without autopsy.

Dr Shoaib said he had been receiving calls from abroad in which experts were expressing their exasperations and terming the government’s handling of the case a mockery of justice.

Experts also doubted that a three-inch piece of bone could dislocate from the skull if it was hit by the sunroof hook, and not a bullet.

Sources in the interior ministry said the government feared a backlash from the opposition about its inability to provide security to Benazir Bhutto.