Close call: Prisoner survives third attempt on life

Woman, daughter killed in VIP ward of PIMS as attackers storm the wrong room; inquiry ordered.

ISLAMABAD: An elderly woman and her daughter were killed in an attack in one of the rooms in the VIP ward of Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences late on Saturday night.

According to the police, the attackers’ target was Rana Sarwat, an under-trial prisoner, who was under treatment after he suffered bullet wounds in district courts last month. However, they mistook their target and stormed the wrong room.

Police and eyewitnesses said that two men hiding guns in their clothes approached Room 8 of the VIP ward and opened indiscriminate fire, killing 92-year-old Saleha Bibi and her 40-year-old daughter Balqees Bibi, besides injuring Khairun Nisa.

Sarwat, who survived two life attempts earlier last year, remained safe in the next room.

The assailants managed to escape unhurt, while the four officials guarding Sarwat failed to apprehend the attackers.

The bodies of the deceased were handed over to the family for burial. The family said they had no enmity with anyone. The Margalla police have registered a case against unknown assailants and started investigations.

Sarwat was attacked by a gunman in the district courts premises last month, where he was hit by a bullet in his shoulder. Earlier he also survived an attack last year in the same premises, during which a police constable was also injured.

Sarwat is under trial in a murder case in which he was accused of kidnapping and killing a boy named Rana Hafiz in Lahore in 2001. He was sentenced to eight years of jail, which he had already served.

Investigations in earlier attacks on him indicated that Hafiz’s relatives were involved in the attacks; however, police could not gather sufficient evidence to incriminate anyone.

All attacks were made at sensitive locations and in the presence of the police, but the assailants could not be arrested in any of the attacks. The police sent Sarwat back to jail on Sunday.

Teams formed to probe incident

The Margalla Police on Sunday constituted special teams to arrest the killers of the two women after Interior Minister Rehman Malik chaired a meeting to review the security and law and order situation.

In the meeting, the Inspector General of Police Islamabad presented a preliminary report on the incident. Malik suspended the four police officials on duty and ordered Chief Commissioner Islamabad to conduct a magisterial inquiry on the basis of preliminary report.

The minister also directed the police to beef up security at pickets on all exit and entry points of the city.

*With input from APP

Published in The Express Tribune, January 16^th, 2012.