Militant pretence: 25 hospital workers arrested in raid

PESHAWAR: Security forces and police arrested three employees and 22 construction workers in Mattani Civil Hospital on Tuesday night. They were all released on Wednesday after the hospital staff suspended services in retaliation to the raid. Talking to The Express Tribune, Inam, a class-IV ward employee of the hospital, said that a large number of security forces and police entered the hospital around 9pm and arrested him along with two other guards, Sardar Ali and Naseem Gul. Two other people from a pharmacy were also apprehended with the others and were taken to Mattani police station. “They took our mobile phones and locked us up,” he said. Inam said they were later told that it was speculated that a militant was inside the hospital on account of which it was raided. The hospital was shut down by the administration after the incident.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 25^th, 2012.