In cold blood: Nurse gunned down in Nowshera

Spouse insists she was targeted for running a maternity centre at her house.

NOWSHERA:

A female paramedical staff member of District Headquarters Hospital (DHQ), Nowshera was gunned down by an unidentified assailant in Hakeemabad area early morning Saturday.

Farzana Kausar had just left her house and was about to board the Suzuki van which took her to the hospital when a masked man approached her and shot her from point blank range, killing her instantly, Cantonment police station SHO Alamzeb Khan told The Express Tribune.

He added the police rushed to the site following the incident and shifted the body to DHQ for autopsy, which revealed that she was shot in the head by a pistol from very close range.

Khan said residents of the area tried to chase the assailant, but he managed to escape.



Kausar’s husband Sajawal Khan told the police his wife was targeted because she was running a maternity centre inside her house for the past eight years. He added that she received threats a month earlier by unknown persons warning her of dire consequences.

Initial investigation carried out by the police, however, stated the nurse was killed over a personal dispute. But SHO Khan admitted the FIR states Kausar had no personal enmity.

Kausar’s colleague at DHQ, Shazia Bibi said the deceased nurse was an enthusiastic woman who performed her duties with great dedication. She added that Kausar worked at DHQ in the mornings and ran her maternity centre in the evenings.



According to Shazia, Kausar and Sajawal tied the knot 14 years ago. They have one son and three daughters, the youngest of which is just six months old.

Following the incident, workers at DHQ locked the doors of the hospital in protest and demanded the government to immediately arrest the culprit.

DHQ Paramedical Union President Nasir Khan led the protest and praised Kausar for her unwavering spirit. He also warned of continued protests in case of the government’s failure to arrest the attackers.

This is the second recent attack in which a health worker has been targeted in the area. Earlier, a female polio worker was also killed in the district in December, 2012.

There has been a sharp increase in attacks on health and aid workers. In December, eight polio workers were gunned down in Karachi and different parts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, while seven NGO workers were gunned down in Swabi on the first day of January.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 13^th, 2013.