LANDI KOTAL, Nov 21: The administration of Khyber Agency registered on Thursday a murder case against Dr Shakeel Afridi on a public complaint, charging him of operating on a patient that resulted in his death.
Official sources said that Naseeba Gul, mother of Salman Afridi, a resident of Sipah area in Bara, lodged a complaint with the political agent some five months ago, accusing Dr Shakeel of conducting a surgery on her son when he was not qualified to do so.
The complainant pleaded that Dr Shakeel, presently imprisoned in Peshawar jail on charges of having links with a banned outfit, was not a surgeon and unlawfully conducted the surgery that resulted in death of her son. The surgery was conducted in 2007 in the private clinic of Dr Shakeel, situated in Bara.Officials said that they sought opinion of the agency surgeon about the professional qualification of Dr Shakeel. The agency surgeon, they said, told the administration that Dr Shakeel was a general cadre doctor and not a specialist surgeon. He was not authorised to conduct any surgery.
It was also learnt that a brother of Salman Afridi had raised the issue in the press after his requests for registering a case against Dr Shakeel were not entertained by the administration when the incident took place.
The political administration has registered a case against the accused under sections 302 and 419 of Pakistan Penal Code and section 11 of Frontier Crimes Regulation. A warrant of the case was sent to the superintendent of Peshawar prison.
The administration fixed Dec 20 for hearing the case inside the jail. Political Agent Mutahir Zeb will hear the case.
Dr Shakeel was taken into custody in May 2011 on suspicion of helping the American CIA in tracing Osama bin Laden by conducting a fake vaccination campaign in Abbottabad.
Subsequently in May 2012, he was convicted by an assistant political agent for having links with a Bara-based banned organisation. He was sentenced to 33 years imprisonment. However, the FCR commissioner set aside his conviction and remanded the case to the political agent for re-hearing.
Meanwhile, Khasadar force on Thursday found bullet-riddled bodies of three persons in Sheen Drand area of Akkakhel in Bara.
Officials said that all the dead were buried in local graveyard as no one claimed the dead bodies.
Also in Akkakhel, militants destroyed the house of a khasadar on Thursday. Officials said that militants took along all the household items before destroying the house.
Source: Dawn
