Lobo hailed for her devotion to medical college

A US academic recovering in a Pakistan hospital after being shot by suspected militants has made an “immeasurable” contribution to the medical college where she works, a colleague said Friday.

Debra Lobo, 55, is conscious and in a stable condition in hospital in Karachi after being shot once in the cheek and once in the arm on Thursday.

Leaflets dropped at the scene of the attack said Lobo was targeted because of her nationality and vowed more attacks on Americans.

Baqar Nawab, the administrator of Jinnah Medical and Dental College, where Lobo is assistant professor of community health, hailed what she has done since joining in 1996.

“She has a huge contribution towards the growth of this college,” Nawab told AFP. “We can never find her replacement and her contribution is immeasurable.”

Nawab said Lobo, who is married to a Pakistani Christian, was hugely popular with students.

“We got a lot of calls from former students of the college who are now serving as doctors in America. They were all very much concerned about her,” the administrator said.

Nawab said Lobo had never been threatened and had completely integrated into the Pakistani way of life, adopting local dress and speaking Urdu fluently.

“She wears shalwar kameez, and she carries herself in the perfect way the local values call for,” he said. “She is more mistaken for a Pashtun or Central Asian lady rather than an American woman.”

Meanwhile, condemning the incident, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has sought a report on the attack and directed the authorities to arrest the culprits at the earliest. He also directed them for provision of best medical treatment to her and prayed for her speedy recovery.

Police said their investigation was focusing on groups whose members have been killed or arrested in a recent crackdown on militants in the city.