Dr Maha’s father points accusing finger at ‘organised gang’

Syed Asif Ali Shah, father of the female doctor who had committed suicide on August 19 in Karachi’s upmarket DHA neighbourhood, has claimed that an organised gang lures young women into their circle, gets them addicted to drugs, sexually exploits them and then blackmails them.

Addressing a news conference at his DHA residence on Monday, Shah said: “I will fight alone for my daughter. There are too many women like Dr Maha who want to come forward [with this information].”

He lamented that Junaid Khan — one of the three suspects whom he holds responsible for his daughter’s death — is still running free. “In the coming days I’ll let you all know why Junaid is not being arrested.”

Shah claimed that Khan had told him about being in a relationship with Dr Maha for the past four years and wanting to marry her. “If he was really interested in marrying her, why didn’t he send a proposal? These are all fabricated stories, and I’m here with the proofs.”

The father expressed fear that he would probably be “threatened for exposing this gang”. He appealed to all young women not to hide anything from their parents. “I have lost a daughter, but I have to save other daughters.”

He also appealed to the judiciary, the Government of Sindh as well as the police chief of the province to ensure that the alleged gang is busted so that innocent lives can be saved. Dr Maha’s family had on August 26 accused some of her friends, including one of her colleagues, of raping and blackmailing her to the extent that in sheer despondency she was driven to the point of taking her own life.

Her father Syed Asif Ali Shah had handed in an application for the registration of a case against three suspects at the Gizri police station, holding them responsible for the doctor’s death.

Police registered FIR No. 432/20 against Junaid Khan, son of Asghar Ali, Waqas Hassan Rizvi, son of Zafar Jamil, and dentist Dr Irfan Qureshi, who works at the same hospital where Dr Maha had been employed.

Shah claimed that the suspects raped Dr Maha, got her hooked to drugs and harassed her to the extent that she committed suicide. The doctor’s youngest sister also corroborated their father’s statement. She said Dr Maha was facing extreme depression and anxiety, and had told her many times about her intention to commit suicide.

The father claimed that while taking advantage of his friendship with Dr Maha, Khan got her hooked to cocaine and alcohol. “[Khan] also used to beat and insult her in front of friends. In one of those thrashings, he broke Maha’s teeth,” reads the FIR.

The sister told the police that Khan raped her elder sister after giving her drugs at his house, leaving her tormented and distraught. It was “during this episode that my sister met with Tabish Qureshi, who also offered to marry her, but when Junaid Khan came to know about the proposal, he began to threaten her incessantly with exposure of the molestation, turning her increasingly distressed”.

The sister also said that Dr Maha had shared her ordeal with her colleague Dr Irfan Qureshi, but he also molested her under the influence of drugs at his house in Clifton.

“Following this, she informed her siblings that Junaid Khan, Dr Irfan, Waqas Hassan Rizvi and two others had messed up her life, and are threatening to dishonour and kill the whole family.” Left distraught by repeated episodes of molestation and blackmailing, Dr Maha insisted on committing suicide, holding these five people responsible for forcing her to the edge if that happened, according to the sister.