Doctors slam alleged rape of lady doctor

11 Jan, 2005

Doctors community, while slamming the alleged rape of a lady doctor in the Sui area, Balochistan, has urged the government to take immediate strict notice of the incident, arrest the culprits and conduct their trial in anti-terrorism court. Punjab Medical Teachers Association (PMTA) office-bearers including Professor Mahmood Shaukat (president), Professor Muhammad Ahmad (secretary general) and Professor Khalid Masood Gondal (finance secretary) told Business Recorder here Monday that doctors used to avoid serving in remote areas mainly on account of security reasons.
They said that this incident has created unrest among the doctor's community. 'If immediate steps are not taken for security of doctors, no body will be willing to serve in remote areas', they said. They also condemned the murder of a doctor in Gilgit.
They said that a large number of Pakistani doctors are serving in various parts of the world because of various reasons including injustices and poor law and order situation. This trend will continue to rise, if the doctors are not provided adequate security. There will be scarcity of doctors not only in remote areas but also in urban areas, if the government failed to provide security to doctors, they opined.
Pakistan Society of Family Physician Secretary General Dr Sheharyar Bhatti told this scribe that the incident of gangrape of a lady doctor is condemnable in all respects and only timely action against the culprits could give some solace to women doctors, who are really perturbed over the incident.
He was of the view that this incident had shocked the whole doctors' community across the country.
Moreover, sources in Jamhoori Watan Party (JWP) claimed that the ill-fated lady doctor was allegedly gang raped by one Imdad and his four accomplices on the night of January 3.
According to them, the lady doctor, who was working for Pakistan Petroleum Limited, was gangrape and left unconscious. She was admitted to the PPL hospital in a critical condition and her whereabouts are still hidden. Preliminary police investigation suggested that the lady doctor was gangrape and kept in the PPL hospital for two days in a state of unconsciousness before being moved to Karachi without informing the police.

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