Dr Altaf Bashir had been attacked at her home in Faisalabad in May 1996. STOCK IMAGE
FAISALABAD: Muhammad Akram Rahi, convicted of murdering gynaecologist Altaf Bashir, was executed at Faisalabad Central Jail on Friday.
Rahi and three accomplices had broken into the doctor’s house on May 17, 1996. They had opened fire on the doctor, her husband Dr Bashir Ahmad and her brother-in-law Muhammad Hafeez.
Altaf had died on her way to her own clinic, Mazhar Medical Centre in People’s Colony. Her husband and brother-in-law had survived.
People’s Colony Police had initially registered a case against a professor of medicine, late Syed Saddat Hussain Zaidi, and three unidentified accomplices under Sections 302 and 324 of the Pakistan Penal Code PPC and Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act.
Later, chargers against Zaidi were dropped and police arrested Akram Rahi and two accomplices in June 1997.
ATC Judge Muhammad Akram had sentenced him to death and fined him Rs100,000.
Rahi’s appeals in the high court and the Supreme Court were rejected. His mercy petition was dismissed by the president on December 1.
He was executed after ATC Judge Raja Pervaiz Akhtar issued black warrants for him.
Dr Altaf Bashir was posthumously awarded Presidential Award for Pride of Performance. She was also a recipient of an award by the Federal Population Department in 1978.
She had introduced the first ever obstetric flying squad service in Faisalabad in 1988 came in response to high incidence of maternal morbidity and mortality in the city with an aim to provide free ambulance service to poor mothers in cases of obstetric emergencies.
The ambulance service was linked to the Allied Hospital and carried trained health care providers able to carry out life-saving procedures, such as resuscitation.
In the beginning, the hospital provided ambulances for the flying squad. Later, FOFS acquired its own vehicles.
Bashir trained more than 5,000 birth attendants. This played a significant role in reducing infant and maternal mortality in Faisalabad. She was also active with the population control programme.
She participated in more than 36 international conferences on women’s health and population control.
She served as principal of Punjab Medical College and was the founder of the Mother and Child Welfare Association of Faisalabad (MCWAF).
Her husband was the chief medical health officer of Faisalabad Municipal Corporation.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 12th, 2015.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ