May 21, 2006	Sunday	Rabi-us-Sani 22, 1427

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ISLAMABAD, May 20: The 106th session of the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PM&DC) was deferred indefinitely after managers of private medical colleges presented a stay order obtained from the Sindh High Court in a highly charged environment here on Saturday.

Representatives of both the PM&DC and the Pakistan Association of Private Medical and Dental Institutions (PAMI) held each other responsible for the unruly scenes witnessed at the PM&DC offices.

PM&DC Secretary Dr Sohail Karim Hashmi told Dawn that the PAMI representatives, in violation of the clear decision of the Supreme Court, surrounded the council’s premises to enter forcibly.

Ironically, the assistant commissioner Islamabad, area magistrate and the police also facilitated the intruders, and even the deputy magistrate jumped over the PM&DC gate to enter the offices, he alleged.

Dr Hashmi said it was a reminiscent of attacks on prestigious institutions of medical profession. However, he expressed the hope that sanity would prevail and “miscreants” would be dealt according to the law.

Giving details of the episode, he claimed that two guards of the PM&DC were beaten badly by senior PAMI representatives, despite the fact that they were told politely not to enter the premises as they were not the members of the council.

But PM&DC officials were pushed aside while a senior official of the health ministry himself aided the “illegal members” to enter the PM&DC premises. They broke through the gate and uprooted all the tents and stampeded into the premises, he added.

However, to avoid any untoward incident inside the building, the intruders were dealt with in a decent manner by the members and staff of the council and they were served with tea and lunch after which they left peacefully.

Dr Hashmi said the May 19 SHC’s stay also shocked the council members since a similar matter was pending before the apex court.

Meanwhile, on the other hand Ziauddin Medical University Chancellor and PAMI president Dr Asim Hussain said that when he along with other members of the association reached the PM&DC offices, they found the building heavily guarded by the personnel of a private security agency.

He said when the guards were asked to open the gates, they refused saying that we were not the council members.

On insistence, they said only those persons would be allowed who had been invited either by PM&DC Acting President Dr Abdullah Jan Jaffar, Secretary Dr Hashmi or College of Physicians and Surgeons of Pakistan (CPSP) President Prof Sultan Farooqi.

Dr Asim Hussain said senior members of PAMI like Dr Ghulam Qadir Kazi, Chancellor Isra University Hyderabad, were pushed back, manhandled and escorted by armed guards.

A large police contingent that had gathered outside the PM&DC building called the magistrate to restore peace.

The gates were later opened in the presence of Director- General Health Dr Majeed Rajput and the PAMI members were allowed to enter the building. However, the meeting was postponed by Prof Arbab Ghulam Rasool, who was elected as chairman of the council, he alleged.