LAHORE: A patient was kidnapped at noon on Sunday from the Punjab Institute of Mental Health (PIMH).
PIMH Executive Director Nasir Mehmood Bhatti said around 25 men reached the hospital during visiting hours to meet Abraiz, 52, who had been treated at the facility for a week.
Bhatti told The Express Tribune that one of the five cars was allowed to enter the premises and five men were granted permission to meet Abraiz. He said Abraiz had been isolated on Saturday after he roughed up some patients at a private ward.
Bhatti said the visitors were allowed to talk to him from outside the cell but insisted on meeting him in the cell. He said when permission was denied, they beat up two ward boys on duty.
Dr Waseem, a psychiatrist at the hospital’s aggressive patients unit, said when other staffers tried to stop the men from breaking the lock on Abraiz’s cell, the 20 men waiting outside the hospital beat security guards at the main entrance and forced their cars into the hospital premises.
He said the patient had been administered sedatives and was barely conscious at the time. The men broke into his cell, carried him to the car and drove away.
Police were called and an FIR was lodged at Shadman police station against 25 unidentified men on charges of kidnapping and obstructing public servants in discharge of duty.
Abraiz’s maternal uncle Khalilur Rehman, who had brought him to the hospital, told police that the men who broke into the cell and kidnapped him were followers of Pir Hamid Ali, who was Abraiz’s neighbour in Johar Town. However, the SHO said no one was identified by the hospital authorities and the kidnapped man’s uncle would not sign a complaint against the pir.
An official requesting anonymity said Model Town SP Tariq Aziz had constituted a police team to arrest the kidnappers.
Abraiz was admitted to the hospital on April 29. Hospital staff said his wife and son had visited on April 30, seeking his release. Bhatti said Abraiz had a land dispute with his siblings because of which his wife sought his release.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 5th, 2014.