Karachi hospital treats ‘first male victim’ as knife attacker still at large

KARACHI: The management of Darul Sehat Hospital (DSH) said late on Saturday night that the health centre had treated a man with a knife wound on his elbow.

The incident took place near Rado Bakery in Gulistan-e-Jauhar, an area where an apparently lone knifeman has attacked several girls and women. In all, 12 female citizens have been stabbed and wounded in attacks in parts of Gulistan-e-Jauhar and Gulshan-e-Iqbal over the past two weeks.

“The first male victim of a knife attack arrived at the DSH [late on Saturday night],” CEO Shahzad Alam told The News.

Dr Basalat Hussain, who has treated the majority of the victims, said the 18-year-old patient, Nauman, suffered injuries to his arm when the knifeman tried to hit his gluteal region. He added that the victim suffered minor wounds and did not require stitches.

However, Gulshan-e-Iqbal SP Ghulam Murtaza Bhutto said police were investigating to establish if the teenage boy was attacked by the knifeman or he was injured in a clash.

While police have failed to arrest the culprit involved in multiple knife attacks on women in the metropolitan, law enforcers are also dealing with prank calls.

“Several prank calls about the presence of the knife attacker were received late on Friday night,” SP Bhutto told The News. The prank calls wasted a lot of time and energies, he added.

A caller claimed he saw a man entering the Saima Mall with a knife in his hand, he said.

But when a heavy contingent of police and Rangers conducted a search operation at the mall situated at Jauhar Morr, it turned out that it was another prank call as the caller switched off his mobile number.

As per a new strategy, the police have formed teams of uniformed and plainclothes officials.  All the teams will be headed by SSP East Dr Samiullah Soomro. The teams include five SPs, eight DSPs and 12 SHOs.

Talking to The News, the newly-appointed focal person on knife attacks in Karachi East, DIG Sultan Ali Khowaja, said police were conducting profiling of the motorcycle used by the suspect at the time of the attacks on women.

Female students of the University of Karachi have been advised to use point busses instead of using public transport as a precautionary measure in view of the knife attacks on women.