The Lady
Doctor Incident in Sui
By Amna Buttar Wisconsin,
US
Dr Shazia Khalid
had been working for Pakistan Petroleum Limited
since June 2003. She was sent to a remote area
in Balochistan called Sui where she was given
a house in the PPL colony where security is provided
by the Pakistan Army.
Dr Shazia kept telling PPL officials that she
felt unsafe in her house and would like them to
hire her husband who has a master's degree in
petroleum engineering and PPL repeatedly rejected
his application. Meanwhile he got a job with a
Chinese company and was in Sudan and other countries.
She even asked to be moved to the nurses' quarters,
and was told that it was not becoming of her status
as she is a doctor and could not live with nurses.
In the first week of January, she was gang raped
by unknown assailants who are alleged to be army
personnel or security guards.
PPL then tried to keep it quiet and did not provide
her with immediate medical assistance by having
their local nurses keep her sedated for two days.
Finally, when local feudal lords became involved
and tried to turn this situation political, she
was sent to Karachi but to a psychiatric hospital.
Her own family only found out about this incident
through the media. They were initially denied
access to her. She was not given gynecological
examination until a week after the incident. She
is getting threats to her life and is currently
in protective housing provided by the government.
Now, the tribal group in Sindh (jirga) gave a
decision about her being a "kari" and are saying
it is their duty to kill her since she is a dishonored
woman of their family.
She is suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
and not getting proper medical or psychiatric
care. Her rapists have not been caught and her
life is in danger because of them. Also now her
own and her family's lives are in danger due to
this horrible custom of Karo Kari. She will never
be able to have a normal life in Pakistan any
more. She and her husband need to be evacuated
from there and brought to America or whichever
country that will give them refugee status. For
details of this case and background of Karo Kari,
Please go to www.4anaa.org
Whatever we want to do for her needs to be
done ASAP.
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