Chaos, commotion outside Polyclinic

ISLAMABAD: Hundreds of fully-armed security and police officials and guards were deployed outside and around Polyclinic Hospital in Islamabad, where Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer’s body had been taken to for external post-mortem. The first thing that came to one’s mind was that the security was “tight”.

But that could not be further from the truth. While there were dozens of army officials, Rangers, Islamabad Police, Anti-Terrorist Squad forces deployed outside the gates of Polyclinic, the disorganized manner in which they were deployed was not really stopping people from going inside.

Each time someone went in, or came out, many made their way inside the hospital’s premises unchallenged. For that matter there were no scanners or walk-through gates deployed at the hospital’s entrance either.

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) workers were chanting slogans against the Punjab government.

Punjab Chief Minsiter Shahbaz Sharif, talking to the media, said, “It is too early to say anything about the assassination and giving any statement will be seeking political mileage.” When the governor’s body was brought out to be shifted to Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims), the PPP workers wanted to push the stretcher. This resulted in half-an-hour-long heated debate between the workers and the doctors.

The workers then stood at the door of the ambulance chanting slogans in favour of Salmaan Taseer and against the Punjab government.

Later the body was shifted to the mortuary department at Pims, where his internal post-mortem was done by a team of doctors headed by Dr Farukh, a senior surgeon.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 5^th, 2011.