Missing persons case: Security heightened at hospital

Steps taken after intelligence reports claim militants could target the victims.

PESHAWAR:

Police have increased security at a Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) ward where seven missing persons were being treated over the last couple of weeks. On Saturday morning, barbed wire and tents were placed around the building and more security personnel were deployed in and around the premises.

Talking to The Express Tribune, a police official said on condition of anonymity that security had been beefed up after intelligence reports claimed that militants could stage an attack on the missing persons, who were in a critical condition. “These are security measures to protect the prisoners to ward off any untoward incident after receiving some intelligence reports,” he explained. He added that the main gate of the LRH had been closed and Frontier Corps (FC) had also deployed its personnel in the hospital.

A brother of two of the missing persons, Qari Abdul Basit, claimed that seven missing persons had been kept in the MLC ward, including Abdul Basit, Abdul Majid, Gul Roze, Dr Niaz, Mazhar Hussain, Muhammad Shafiq and Shafiqur Rehman.

He added that Majid and Basit were his brothers, who had been arrested in Lahore in May 2007, and Gul Roze and Muhammad Shafiq were residents of Swabi district, while Dr Niaz and Mazhar Hussain hailed from Rawalpindi.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 11^th, 2012.