Doctors observe ‘black day’ today

PESHAWAR: The Provincial Doctors Association (PDA) has condemned the killing of Dr Mohammad Yaqoob, head of Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) in the Swabi district, and announced to mourn his death across the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by observing Tuesday as a black day.
In a statement issued here Monday, the PDA spokesman Dr Amir Taj said doctors would continue provision of services to the patients as they don’t want the poor patients to suffer.He, however, said the doctor community across the province would protest the killing of Dr Mohammad Yaqoob by wearing black ribbons on arms.
The PDA demanded earlier arrest of his killers and sought protection for the doctor community serving in the province and its adjoining tribal areas.Dr Mohammad Yaqoob was shot dead while his driver was seriously injured when unknown gunmen riding motorcycles opened fired at them in Swabi on Monday.
Sources close to the slain doctor told The News he had no enmity. “He was an honest and a hardworking doctor. But as far as I know, he had no enmity or any personal issue that could take his life,” a senior official associated with the immunisation programme said.
He said though Swabi was not a ‘high risk’ area in terms of security threats to lives of the polio teams, he said polio workers and those associated with immunisation programme had come under attack from the militants in the past.