Daily Times

Everyone would love to get an education for children. However, nobody would love to want their son or daughter to organize and be a part of any party or lobby that might storm into a medical facility and take lives of impeccant patients. Being a doctor and a professional person is a matter of honour. However, this is not the case in Pakistan wherever individuals tend to those noble professions but are misused for exerting political and social influence on different teams, particularly on the citizenry.

That is not oblique anymore and most evident from the footage, which clearly shows the mayhem with which the lawyers attacked and vandalised the complete building of one of the leading medical facilities of Punjab, which is the biggest hospital for cardiac treatments.

Before this, doctors and paramedics workers had attacked a small group of lawyers on their visit to Punjab Institute of Cardiology (PIC) and brutally beat them 21 days earlier. This had happened upon them asking for free medicine dispensary counter as their prerogative. That was the beginning of the clash that happened on December 11, 2019

Amid war between “Doctors and Lawyers,” the loss was borne by poor patients. Seven were declared dead while the attack cost 70 million rupees to national assets as the building machinery was torn to be borne by the public. Whatsoever calamity it may cause but who cares in Pakistan? No one because everyone has his vested interests.

Young lawyers asked their seniors to support them in the emanation of their rage on doctors and paramedic workers.

Amid war between “Doctors and Lawyers,” the loss was borne by poor patients

Their leaders fearing of not being elected, as bar elections were within the air. The elections are to be held on January 19, 2020. They supported them. Young lawyers vowed to support leaders who would facilitate them take revenge. Then what followed was a ruthless attack that took many lives and caused turbulence in the treatment of many patients. They had to run to save their lives from the place where they came to protect their lives

Indeed, nobody lost or won. Each team was charged, particularly the lawyers, who attacked patients and their kin that ultimately caused the death of seven individuals.

Black sheep that caused the commotion should be strictly dealt with so that a lesson might be learnt by anyone who dared stage such an attack. Throughout extreme affairs like wars, hospitals are still spared from all bombardments. Some signboards ask people to not press horns near a hospital in a radius of 1 km. This tells the protocol of patients getting treated and what do our doctors do? They inhumanely treat patients and don’t bother to examine them. They show arrogance in diagnosing them; maltreat them. However, what lawyers did by attacking the hospital in broad daylight in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is quite pitiful. Media is being held responsible for portraying their negative image but actually what these big guns doctor and lawyers did is quite condemnable and raises the question on their upbringing and nurturing.

An arbitration starts when parties mutually decide to use an arbitrator. Generally, a discretely retained individual is selected who gives a decision in place of judge and the negotiation settles with the reconciliation. They call each other brothers but some external forces pumped them and made this dispute resurface again.

Now, 250 Lawyers are being accused in 7 ATA– the same clause in which they wanted doctors to be involved. It was also the loophole present injustice system that no adequate enquiry was formed and PIC management didn’t care to go against their goons who tortured unarmed lawyers 21 days earlier by locking doors and beating them with metal rods.

This situation could be evaded if justice was served and young lawyers’ innocence wasn’t radicalised. If the Lahore CCPO knew about the protest in front of the PIC, why were no security measures properly executed? If Inspector General himself fears elements, where is the writ of state? When a minister got beaten, we needed rangers to safeguard our buildings. It’s not a conspiracy but the societal dismay. Its a crisis of our lapses, which we have to edify ourselves instead of moving back to the stone ages.

The writer is a columnist based in Lahore who knows the actual social and political problems. He can be reached at waqaraslamravian@gmail.com