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| India-Pakistan |
| Killings force doctors to flee |
| 2003-08-29 |
| KARACHI CONTINUES TO BE UNDER THE PALL of sectarianism. Continued sectarian violence, which has hit Shia doctors the hardest, has forced at least 500 doctors to leave Pakistan since March 4 last year. Most of them, however, were driven away by the recent incidents of violence in Karachi including the killing of a US-returned doctor, Aal-e-Safdar Zaidi who was killed in the cityâs upscale Defence Housing Authority area. The killing of doctors in Karachi started in 2000 but then there was a lull. The violence again picked up last year when six doctors were murdered in the city. This was a couple of months before Akram Lahori and his accomplices were arrested in June 2002. The situation became so alarming that the Karachi chapter of Pakistan Medical Association went on its first ever strike on March 13. At least 7000 doctors practising in Karachi are registered with PMA. Out of these, more than 6,000 are general practitioners (GPs). This is the group most targeted by sectarian terrorists, though Karachi has also lost some senior specialists to the violence. This is the second phase of forced migrations. Three years ago, more than 200 doctors had left the country after Deobandi sectarian groups began targeting Shia doctors. âThe doctors who have the resources to settle elsewhere are leaving the country, but the majority is not so lucky and cannot afford to migrate,â Dr Shershah Syed, Secretary-General PMA, told TFT. Doctorsâ killings came to a halt after the Karachi police killed Haji Laldin alias Laloo in an encounter on April 4. Laloo was the city commander of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, a banned sectarian outfit. Akram Lahori, one of Pakistanâs most wanted terrorists who was on the run for about 12 years and supervised dozens of terrorist activities in Punjab and Sindh, was also caught along with four accomplices in the same encounter. Akram Lahori, chief commander of his own faction of LJ, had been arrested with his deputy Tasadduq, Ataullah alias Qasim (hitman), Sharif (hunter and researcher) and Usman Baloch from a bungalow in Defence Housing Authority on June 29. Lahori was one of the three founders of the banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi. The other two were Riaz Basra and Malik Ishaq. The former was killed in a police shootout in Punjab last year while the latter was arrested by the Punjab police. According to IGP Sindh, Syed Kamal Shah: âHe [Lahori] graduated from the University of the Punjab where he developed immense hatred towards the Shia sect after some clashes with Shia students. He joined Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan and finally began his reign of terror in 1996 when the terrorist troika formed the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi.â The doctor community had been at ease after the arrests of these terrorists until Dr Syed Ibne Hasan was shot dead by unidentified men in Malir on August 16. The incident led to unprecedented violence in the city in which many vehicles, public and private property including US franchised food outlet KFC was set ablaze. Sources in the police said the investigators were examining the possibility of the regrouping of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi as well as the entrance into the arena of a new player, the Muslim United Army, a so-called alliance of various jihadi groups. At least 74 doctors have been murdered during the last decade or so and more than 50 of them have been assassinated since 1997. In the year 2000, eight doctors were killed while 2001 and 2002 claimed the lives of seven and six doctors respectively. |
| Posted by:Paul Moloney |
| #4 It says that the Pakistani doctors can't leave due to low wages. Why doesn't Canada import Pakastani doctors to replenish the flow of their doctors to the states? Couldn't the French import Pakastani doctors to cover the holiday season so that fewer aged Parisians die? |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2003-8-29 8:30:02 PM |
| #3 Killing educated and highly respected people like Doctors attracts a lot more attention then killing some anonymous, poverty striken people in a mosque. |
| Posted by: Paul Moloney 2003-8-29 7:39:13 PM |
| #2 Doctorsâ killings came to a halt after the Karachi police killed Haji Laldin alias Laloo in an encounter on April 4. Laloo was the city commander of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, a banned sectarian outfit. So Israel's strategy works in other countries. Wotta surprise. /sarcasm |
| Posted by: Ptah 2003-8-29 8:06:02 AM |
| #1 Ok....could someone explain exactly WHY they are going after doctors? Is it simply because they are Shia, are the nutcases mad that they might be violating some obscure fatwa by patching up people hurt by terrorist bombs/assassinations, or do they just hate people who studied something other than the Koran? I guess I'll be seeing more Islamic-sounding names on my insurance company's list of approved doctors. Good for the US.....bad for Pakistan. |
| Posted by: Baba Yaga 2003-8-29 4:54:05 AM |