London – 19 January 1999
TERRORISTS KILLED BRITISH WOMAN IN FAISALABAD, PUNJAB PROVINCE, PAKISTAN
A British woman, visiting Faisalabad city in Punjab, was most ruthlessly killed by the terrorists. The terrorists dumped her body near "Fatima Clinic", the newspaper reports disclosed.
Ms. Mary Wannan, from Scotland was visiting Punjab and was staying in the Rays Hotel in Faisalabad where she met her violent death. The Federal Minister of Interior Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and the Chief Minister of Punjab Mr Shahbaz Sharif are not talking to the newsmen regarding this murder while the Police is claiming that they are investigating the circumstances of the killing, the press report claimed.
It should be noted that recently a Chinese woman visitor was killed in Islamabad, Capital of Pakistan. Her killers are still at large.
It is pertinent to draw your attention on the recent reports that terrorism in Punjab has been endemic all along. Foreign visitors should exercise caution and restraints in visiting Punjab, particularly Lahore, that is the murder capital of the world, according to the figures disclosed recently in the Senate of Pakistan by the Interior Federal Minister, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain. In fact, during 1998, 336 more killings were reported in Lahore compared to Karachi: while 662 people were killed in the port city, killings in Lahore stood at 998. This brings the per month killing ratio for Lahore and Karachi to 83 and 55 persons killed , respectively. The per week and per day killing ratio for Lahore remained 21 and three persons , respectively during 1998, as against 14 and two persons killed in Karachi.
The ruling PML (Pakistan Muslim League) denies charges that these acts of terrorism in Punjab are Government sponsored or link to their inability to govern. The terrorism and violence has claimed 4,358 lives and 7,297 abduction and rape cases last year in Punjab compared with 3,562 lives and 5,923 abduction and rape cases in Sindh during the same period. Terrorism in Punjab has claimed over two hundred lives alone in 1999, so far, including the murder of an elected Member of Punjab Provincial Assembly and the massacre of 16 Shiite Muslims in a mosque .