KARACHI – Sindh Home Minister Dr Zulfiqar Ali Mirza ordered Karachi Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Fayyaz Laghari on Saturday to submit a detailed report to the provincial government on the targeted killing of doctors. The minister directed that the report must include details of the incidents and the registered cases, results of investigations and information about the arrested people and cases forwarded to the courts between January 2010 and February 2011.
The home minister issued these directives after receiving formal complaints by the Doctors’ Joint Action Committee. According to the orders, the CCPO must hold a meeting with the doctors’ committee soon. Considering the doctors’ concerns, all localities that are deemed vulnerable by them must be identified and security ensured to them, the home minister directed the CCPO.
The CCPO’s report must include particulars from police stations in all precincts, including at the zonal and town levels. In a press release issued on Saturday, the home minister said that he has directed the CCPO to beef up security and increase policing around government and private hospitals and clinics, as well as to make all efforts to ensure security of the doctors.
In a press conference held a day earlier, the Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) Karachi president had expressed serious concerns regarding security of the doctors.
The PMA city president said that criminals belonging to South Africa were involved in the targeted killing of doctors in Sindh. He said that several doctors have so far been killed and kidnapped for ransom, whereas many others have been receiving severe threats.
