The doctor should be executed, says sister of JPMC trainee nurse

“Never again will my sister or I go out to earn a living, no matter how short we are on money,” said the elder sister of the trainee nurse who was allegedly raped by a Medico Legal Officer at Jinnah hospital last week.

Shehla Ashraf held a press conference at the Karachi Press Club on Sunday. “We want to dissociate ourselves with the profession of nursing,” said Ashraf, who was of the belief that Dr Jabbar Memon should be executed by hanging or stoning.

Although she admitted that her sister was being well looked after by the JPMC management, Ashraf said that she feared for her security and wanted her out of the hospital as soon as possible.

“We are being threatened. We also feel that we are being followed,” she told The Express Tribune, adding that her family has yet to figure out how to go on with their lives.

MPA Humera Alwani had been mistakenly believed to be making a declaration to the media on my sister’s behalf, said Ashraf. She clarified that the trainee nurse’s statement to the police has yet to be recorded as she is not fit to make one.

The 22-year-old is still admitted at the surgical ICU and her family wants her to wait till she is well enough to be able to deal with the legal matters, which are currently at a stand-still.

The nurse’s NIC and mobile phone are still missing, said a welfare organisation’s Awais Abdullah, who accompanied Ashraf to the press conference.

The nurse is being represented by Advocate Javed Ahmed Chatari. Abdullah alleged that the accused MLO had tried to escape to Dubai but that his name had been put on the Exit Control List with the help of the DIG South to stop him from leaving the country.

SIO Inspector Toor Khan told The Express Tribune that Dr Memon was in police custody. “Memon will be a hard nut to crack as he is a clever man,” said Khan, who added that the police cannot taken action against three other people accused of involvement in the alleged rape as there was no proof against them yet. “The victim has yet to give a statement and we do not have any other clues,” he added.

People across the country have united against the injustice, said Sohail Johnson, a member of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and chief coordinator of the NGO Sharing Life Ministry of Pakistan.

Dr Liaquat Munawwar said that 90 per cent of the nurses in Pakistan are Christian, which is why the community was at stake.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 19^th, 2010.