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Police charge 250 lawyers in Pakistan hospital attack

By Don Jacobson
Patients stand near smashed glass Wednesday at the Punjab Institute of Cardiology in Lahore, Pakistan. Photo by Rahat Dar/EPA-EFE
Patients stand near smashed glass Wednesday at the Punjab Institute of Cardiology in Lahore, Pakistan. Photo by Rahat Dar/EPA-EFE

Dec. 12 (UPI) -- Hundreds of Pakistani attorneys were charged Thursday in connection to a violent storming at a Lahore hospital that resulted in the deaths of three patients, officials said.

Punjab police filed a variety of charges against 250 attorneys they say attacked the Punjab Institute of Cardiology on Wednesday. The charges include trespassing, assaulting public servants, assaulting women, rioting with deadly weapon and terrorism.

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The attack was part of ongoing feud between doctors and attorneys in the city -- and was possibly spurred by a video posted online that depicted physicians ridiculing the attorneys.

Also named in the complaint are Lahore Bar Association General Secretary Malik Maqsood Khokhar, Vice President Ijaz Basra and LBA member Rana Intizar.

The complaint said some of the attorneys carried weapons during the hospital raid, pushed past a large contingent of police and "tortured the security guards, medical staff and doctors present in the vicinity."

Police said the mob broke hospital equipment and caused a panic among patients and families. The hospital effectively closed for two hours after the assault, which authorities said contributed to the deaths of three patients.

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