New Delhi, September 5
Some senior doctors of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) here had to face a threat to their lives from a terrorist outfit in Jammu and Kashmir.

They were told that they could afford to visit Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences in Srinagar to interview candidates for a few posts only at the cost of their lives.

The threat came in a typed letter addressed to the AIIMS Director, Professor P. Venugopal. It came from the outfit, Al-Masoorian.

Sources at AIIMS said that the letter, written in English, warned that the doctors who dared to go to Srinagar would not come back alive. The terrorist organisation stated that it did not want any persons from outside to come and interfere in their affairs.

The letter was received on August 25, a day after the AIIMS Registrar had flown to Srinagar. This caused some panic and the administration lost no time in getting in touch with the Chief Secretary of Jammu and Kashmir to assure itself of the safety of its senior faculty members.

Speaking on conditions of anonymity, sources at AIIMS said that 26 faculty members had been invited to select candidates for posts in various branches of medicine and intra-department promotions.

“We ensured that all doctors got the best possible security and then left it to the doctors to decide whether or not they wanted to go to Srinagar. At least half of the doctors visited Srinagar’’.

Dr Ramesh Dawra, Professor of Pathology, who was a member of the selection committee as an external expert described the trip as “pretty ordinary’’ except that “we saw a lot more of the military and more barriers”. Dr Dawra believes that when a job has to be done, it has to be done”.