Nishtar Hospital: Abandoned bodies not of Baloch missing persons, says Punjab govt

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Our Correspondent
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A blurred image of two bodies rotting on the roof of Nishtar Hospital in Multan, on October 14, 2022. — Twitter
A blurred image of two bodies rotting on the roof of Nishtar Hospital in Multan, on October 14, 2022. — Twitter

  • Punjab says Nishtar Hospital bodies are not of missing persons.
  • CM's advisor says administration has complete record of bodies.
  • Clarification comes after Akhtar Mengal demanded DNA testing of bodies.


MULTAN: The Punjab government Wednesday said that the unclaimed bodies found at Multan’s Nishtar Hospital were not of missing persons and have been buried after legal formalities.

The clarification from the provincial government came after BNP-M leader Akhtar Mengal expressed concerns in the National Assembly the same day that the bodies could be of Balochistan’s missing persons.

Speaking on a point of order, Mengal demanded the constitution of a judicial commission to be headed by a senior judge of the superior judiciary to investigate the hundreds of bodies found on the rooftop of the hospital.

The Baloch leader also asked for conducting DNA tests on those bodies fearing that some of them might be missing persons.

Addressing a press conference at Multan Press Club, Punjab Chief Minister’s Advisor Tariq Zaman Gujjar said that Akhtar Mengal is respectable to them but his statement was surprising in which he suspected the abandoned bodies might be those of the missing persons.

“The Nishtar Medical Health University Vice Chancellor and Nishtar administration have a complete record of abandoned bodies and none of them is a missing person,” he said.

As per the instructions of the Punjab CM, Gujjar said, Nishtar Hospital management and the district administration handed over 58 abandoned bodies to the local police who buried them in cemeteries after offering funeral prayers.

The nation was shocked last week when it emerged that unidentified and decomposing bodies were found on the roof of Nishtar Hospital's mortuary in Multan.

The provincial government launched an inquiry into the matter while the hospital administration blamed police and rescue officials for the decaying bodies at the medical facility's rooftop.