Family sees Sarabjit from ICU window - The Telegraph - Calcutta Telegraph

A special prayer session for the recovery of Sarabjit Singh was held at the Rashbehari gurdwara in Calcutta on Sunday. Picture by Sanat Kumar Sinha Islamabad/Lahore, April 28: The family of Sarabjit Singh, who have been waiting for his return for over 20 years, were today allowed a glimpse of him from outside the hospital room where he lies in a coma after a brutal assault in a Pakistani jail. After initial denial, Pakistan granted a second consular access to Sarabjit today. India had sought "regular consular access" after Pakistani authorities imposed restrictions on meeting him. A doctor of the state-run Jinnah Hospital said Sarabjit's sister, wife and two daughters were allowed to see him through a window from outside the ICU as it was "not good for the patient as well as attendants to get close to each other". Asked if the family, who have for years been campaigning for Sarabjit's return from Pakistan where he is a death row convict, could have been allowed to get closer after wearing protective clothing, the doctor said: "We cannot take any chances with regard to the health of our patients. Sarabjit Singh is not in a condition that a visitor can be allowed to sit by him." The family arrived in Pakistan through the Wagah border this afternoon on a 15-day visa. Sarabjit's wife Sukhpreet Kaur appealed to the Pakistani authorities to send her husband back to India for better treatment and to take action against his attackers. "We have learnt that Sarabjit is not getting good treatment in (Jinnah) hospital. It will be better if my husband is allowed to go back for treatment," she said at Wagah. Poonam, one of the couple's two daughters, said she had met her father only once earlier, in prison. "I was happy to see my father when I met him for the first time. But today I am sad to see him in hospital in this condition and I pray to God for the health of my father," she said. Sarabjit, 49, was attacked on Friday by at least six prisoners at Kot Lakhpat Jail, who hit him on the head with bricks and slashed his face and torso with weapons fashioned from spoons and ghee tins, sources said. He had been sentenced to death after being convicted for a string of bombings that killed 14 in Pakistan's Punjab in 1990. Sarabjit's family claims he is a victim of mistaken identity and had strayed across the border. Two officials of the Indian high commission were allowed to visit Sarabjit for a few minutes early on Saturday. Subsequently, Pakistan had informed India that the consular access was meant for only one visit, sources told PTI. Following India's request for regular consular access, the Pakistani foreign office spokesperson Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry released a statement late on Sunday night saying Islamabad had "provided second consular access to Indian diplomats presently stationed in Lahore". India was asked to coordinate with the foreign ministry's deputy chief of protocol, camp office Lahore, and the medical superintendent of Jinnah Hospital for consular arrangements, Chaudhry said. However, it could not immediately be ascertained whether the consular access was for one visit or more. Pakistani daily Dawn has quoted one of the hospital doctors as saying Sarabjit was in a deep coma. "Singh (Sarabjit) had suffered a critical bone fracture when he was taken to Jinnah Hospital's surgical emergency on Friday evening," a doctor said. via Top Stories - Google News http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNGZiVeWTgl2IGfK6yHDBXdlXm2cVA&url=http://www.telegraphindia.com/1130429/jsp/nation/story_16839490.jsp

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