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KARACHI, March 12: An ENT surgeon was shot dead near Habib Medical Centre in Karimabad on Tuesday night.
City police chief Asad Jehangir said Dr Anwarul Islam was a surgeon in Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, and saw patients in Habib Medical Centre in the evening.
As he came out of the medical centre around 9pm and was about to board his car, two motorcycle-riders fired gunshots at him.
Police said Dr Islam was rushed to Habib Medical Centre but he died before he could be given treatment. Police said Dr Islam was resident of Block-10, Federal ‘B’ Area.
“It is an act of terrorism. Investigations have been initiated to ascertain whether the killing was sectarian-motivated,” said a senior police official.
Tension gripped the locality following the killing of the doctor. Men of law enforcement agencies cordoned off the area and started patrolling the locality.
Meanwhile, major hospitals, clinics and health establishments in the city are expected to remain closed on Wednesday in response to a province-wide strike called by Pakistan Medical Association in protest against targeted killing of doctors and the apathy of the government towards the situation.
The doctors would observe a strike and provide only emergency treatment to the patients.
A meeting will be held at the PMA House to devise a line of action in the face of continued murders of doctors.
A PMA source said on Tuesday that the decision to go on strike was taken as a last resort, in the face of government’s continued apathy towards routine killings of doctors in the city. Because of this situation, there is growing tension among doctors, who fear for their lives, the source said.
He said a large number of doctors were trying to migrate to countries like Canada and Australia, which were also offering greater incentives to trained professionals.
The Sindh Paramedical Staff Association on Tuesday also announced support to the strike while condemning targeted killings of doctors.
MQM: Muttahida Qaumi Movement coordination committee has supported the strike called by the doctors.
The committee, in a statement issued here, urged President Gen Pervez Musharraf to take effective measures to check the unrest that was spreading among the doctors against the killing of their colleagues.
