MUZAFFARGARH: PML-N MPA Hammad Nawaz Tipu and his aides on Wednesday thrashed a senior doctor at the EDO office to settle score for standing up to the political figure.

Sources said the MPA came to the EDO office, where Dr Tariq Jamshed, in charge of the Maternal and Child Health Programme (MNCH), was present. Tipu and his aides tortured the doctor using fists and shoes and asked him why he did not appoint a man of the MPA’s constituency as security guard.

The department had announced vacancies of security guards and the MPA asked Dr Jamshed to appoint his six acquaintances against the posts. He appointed five of those nominated by the MPA but refused to accommodate Tanvir who, he said, did not fulfill the recruitment criteria.

The MPA called the doctor many times and asked him to appoint Tanvir but the doctor stuck to his guns. The ruthless parliamentarian refused to be content with the hiring of his five men and, with the help of his brother and other accomplices, tortured the doctor.

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The other staff of the MNCH programme and health officials fled the scene.

The doctors community sprang into action and a meeting of the Pakistan Medical Association, presided over by Dr Mehr Iqbal and Dr Maqbool Alam, at DHQ Hospital decided to go on strike and approach the police for registration of a case against the suspects.

PMA President Dr Mehr Iqbal said an application would be moved to the police to register a case under 7ATA. He said only emergency patients would be tended to during strike.

Dr Maqbool Alam warned that the strike would be extended to all over Punjab if the government prevaricated on the issue.

District Police Officer Rai Zameerul Haq said doctors had not contacted any police station for an FIR so far. DCO Hafiz Shaukat Ali said he was looking into the matter.

Sources said the MPA had friendly terms with CM’s adviser on health Khwaja Salman Rafique and he boasted the influence he enjoyed. The MPA and his men had beaten up Assistant Commissioner Hasnain Sajjad a few months ago and the bureaucrat got himself transferred.

MPA Hammad Tipu, when contacted, denied torture of the doctor but said he had information that the health programme head had got money from people to appoint them as security guards. He said he visited the EDO office to inquire into the allegation against the doctor.

Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has ordered an inquiry into the incident.

Published in Dawn, November 6th, 2014