Doctor rescued in clinical operation

HYDERABAD: The child specialist who was kidnapped nine days ago was freed in an operation on Thursday.

Dr Muhammad Aslam Memon was kidnapped from outside his clinic in the Defence Plaza within the jurisdiction of the Cantonment Police Station nine days ago at 4 am.

The Kotri police carried out a raid on a tip-off at a small hut in the Khuda ki Basti area near the railway tracks, where they encountered the kidnappers. The suspects managed to escape, leaving the doctor and one of their accomplices behind.

The police freed the doctor who was fettered in chains and took him back to his house in Civil Lines in Hyderabad.

According to the Hyderabad DPO Javed Alim Odho, who held an emergency press conference at his home, the police arrested one of the kidnappers, Asif, who was injured in the crossfire. They also seized a Kalashinkov, which had been snatched from a head constable, from Asif’s possession.

Police have intensified security checks across the district and are patrolling the area to try and find the kidnappers who escaped.

“It is a miracle that I was saved,” said the rescued doctor, adding that it was because of the police’s timely raid that he was found.

He said that he had not paid a single rupee to the kidnappers. The kidnappers had asked the family for Rs50 million as ransom.

“There were five men who kidnapped me,” Memon said. He was blindfolded and kept in one place - locked in a room. The entire time, at least one of the kidnappers would be with him.

“Only one of them seemed to be educated,” he said, adding that the rest of them only conversed in Sindhi and Saraiki.

“The only punishment for a kidnapper should be a straight bullet,” declared Memon emotionally.

“I was born on this land and am not going to run away because of the kidnappers,” he added, saying that he wants to send a message to all his countrymen that everybody should unite against criminals and not be deterred by them.

Memon is one of the most renowned doctors of the district. He works in a private hospital in the morning and at his own clinic, Al-Ayesha, at the Defence Plaza in the evenings.

His brother, Dr Muhammad Umar Memon, had registered an FIR against four unidentified persons a few days ago.

Published in the Express Tribune, June 11^th, 2010.