Four people were taken into custody during an overnight police raid at a government-run-hospital in Karachi.
The raid was conducted on the night between Tuesday and Wednesday. Witnesses said a heavy contingent of police in around 20 police mobile vehicles and motorcycles raided Abbasi Shaheed Hospital located in the Nazimabad area.
The operation started at round 3am on Wednesday. Police personnel surrounded the hospital and no one was allowed to go in or out during the operation hours that lasted around one-and-a-half hours.
Witnesses claimed that the number plates and names of police stations on the mobiles had been hidden with stickers or papers. It was reported that after entering the hospital’s premises, police officials broke locks and searched different sections such as the doctors’ apartments, trauma centre and IT department of the hospital. They also seized hard drives, computers and other items during the raid.
Hospital staff said the raiding cops had their faces covered with handkerchiefs and they manhandled the city wardens, sweepers and paramedics. The arrested men included the hospital’s public relations officer (PRO) Shaikh Rashid Hussain, Arshad Hashmat and Aslam Pervez.
Dr Salma Kauser, medical and health services senior director at the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation, which manages Abbassi Shaheed Hospital, condemned the raid at the health facility and confirmed that a total of four staffers had been arrested.
She added that it was yet to be ascertained which police had raided the hospital and on what charges the four staffers had been taken into custody.
She said the hospital management would itself have handed its staffers over to the police had they wanted the custody of any suspect. The police should have approached the hospital management or the relevant authorities instead of raiding the hospital, she asserted.
Dr Kauser appealed to Karachi Mayor Wasim Akhtar and Sindh Inspector General of Police Dr Kaleem Imam to take the notice of the incident.
The Nazimabad police, in whose jurisdiction the hospital falls, were not aware of the overnight raid and arrests. “It was an overnight raid and we had no information about it,” admitted Nazimabad SHO Wilayatullah Shah. “Since the raid, no one has approached the police to register a complaint against the raid or apprehensions.”
