ISLAMABAD, Aug 26: In a gruesome murder-suicide case of its kind in the history of Chitral, Farhana Mehmood, a psychologist at the Aga Khan Health Service Chitral, was killed by a mentally disturbed, frustrated patient on Monday, police said.
In October last year, a youth also committed suicide in Brep village of Yarkhun valley after killing a girl who had turned down his proposal to marry him. https://www.chitraltoday.net/2012/10/25/youth-commits-suicide-after-killing-woman/
In the latest incident in Chitral town, Sardar Ayub, son of Khush Bahader of Gram Chashma, a psychological patient, shot dead Farhana Mehmood, daughter of Mehmood Isa with a pistol, at AKHS centre situated in Atalique Bazar Chitral, and then killed himself with the same weapon.
The incident took place on Monday morning at around 10am after he was being examined by the psychiatrist at the AKHS centre situated next to Mountain Inn hotel right under the nose of deputy commissioner office.
Sub-Inspector Tajuddin, a police spokesman, told chitraltoday.net on phone from Chitral that the mentally retarded man used to visit the psychiatrist for treatment for quite long, as he was suffering from mental disorder.
He said that the murderer had left medical college after completing three years of MBBS and since then he was being treated by the unfortunate psychiatrist. According to police, on Monday morning, he came for a routine check up and shot himself to death with a pistol after killing the lady psychologist.
The dead bodies were shifted to district headquarters hospital Chitral for autopsy. Police continue to investigate and have not released any additional information, said police spokesman. When asked about the increasing trend of crimes especially suicide among women, the police spokesman sarcastically said that the police could not guard the whole river banks of Chitral as most of these women end their lives by jumping into river Chitral.
About negligence of Chitral Police which has miserably failed to protect the life and property of people, the spokesman claimed that the AKHS had recently relieved policemen deployed for security, saying they had hired private security guards and did not need police service anymore.
To a question about allowing the man holding a pistol inside the hospital, a senior AKHS official who declined to be named said that the security guards did not pay much attention as the man used to visit the hospital quite frequently for getting treatment. Sources also said that the mentally disturbed man had also been been jailed for a few months.
Farhana Mehmood hailed from Ujnoo village of tehsil Torkhow and was a niece of former district attorney Asmat Issa. This is a test case for the provincial government of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) as the unfortunate incident has created panic in the area especially among women. The people belonging to different walks of life have demanded both federal and provincial governments to take strict action against the incompetent high-ups of AKHS Chitral for allowing an armed man inside the hospital which claimed an innocent life.
Note: ChitralToday published a story about the medical student, who committed suicide after killing the woman in Chitral on Monday, in April.