THIS is with reference to the letter “Cry for help from a hero’s daughter” (Feb 19) by Dr Dina Khan, the daughter of Dr A.Q. Khan. The nuclear scientist, who made Pakistan the only nuclear Islamic state, was a staunch promoter of education and health in Pakistan and had established many schools and hospitals, including the Institute of Behavioural Science in Karachi.

He once addressed a gathering in the auditorium of Dow International Medical College, Ojha campus, where I was professor of community medicine. He was dressed in a safari suit and shared his memories of the city where he had gone to the medical ward of Civil Hospital for his brother’s treatment and could not sleep due to bed bugs and mosquito bites. He also narrated his education abroad and how his rough notes were used to develop nuclear deterrence.

Step by step he established the A.Q. Khan Trust Hospital in Lahore and nominated his daughter as the chairperson in his life so that she may replace him once he crosses over to eternity.

But soon after 2021, when he was buried in Islamabad — a burian not attended by any high political or government functionary, unfortunately — the trust hospital established by the man was illegally snatched from his legal heir; his daughter.

As she described in the said letter, she went seeking justice from the courts as well as from the relevant regulatory authorities, but her cry fell on deaf ear. All those at the helm of affairs should take action against the culprits without any further delay. As they say, justice delayed is justice denied.

Dr Hussain Bux Kolachi
Hyderabad

Published in Dawn, April 7th, 2023