QUETTA:
A senior doctor who went missing from Quetta over a fortnight ago has returned home safe and sound.
Dr Ghulam Rasool Kakar – who works at the Bolan Medical College (BMC) – returned home on Friday night, his brother, Lal Gul Kakar, confirmed to The Express Tribune.
“He did not tell us where he had been for the last 17 days,” Lal Gul said, adding that local politicians and tribal elders played a role in securing the release of his brother.
Dr Rasool was kidnapped by gunmen from Brewery Road on August 1 when he was returning home from the hospital. Police had found his car abandoned by a roadside.
It is believed that Dr Rasool was released after paying ransom to his kidnappers. However, it was not known how much money was paid.
The Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) has been on strike since August 1 to protest the kidnapping of Dr Rasool. Now, the association has announced that it will call off the strike from Saturday and resume duties only at the emergency wards of provincial hospitals.
However, boycott of OPDs in all major hospitals will continue till the kidnappers of Dr Rasool are arrested.
Doctors, Hindu businessmen and other professionals have been favourite targets of gangs involved in cases of kidnapping for ransom in Quetta and some parts of central Balochistan where the trend is on the rise.
It is considered a lucrative business as hostages are made to pay millions of rupees to their captors for their release.
Organised gangs of criminals, allegedly in connivance with some influential people, are targeting moneyed people, while petty criminals kidnap ordinary people to extort from their families whatever they can. It is true in some cases in Central Balochistan, mainly in Khuzdar and its surrounding townships.
Police and administration officials were allegedly snubbed when they caught criminals red-handed while robbing passengers in some incidents in Kharan, Chagai and Central Balochistan.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 18th, 2012.
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