 Sarabjit's daughter and sister watching news on TV at their residence in Jalandhar on Friday. Pardeep Pandit/HT "Singh's condition is critical with multiple wounds on his head, abdomen, jaws and other body parts, and he has been put on ventilator," a senior doctor in Lahore's Jinnah hospital told AFP on condition of anonymity. Singh is fighting for his life in the hospital's intensive care unit (ICU), and the next 24 hours are critical, the doctor said, adding that the head injury was "quite severe". "He needs surgery but the doctors are not performing it because they don't want to take any chances and want him to stabilise," he said. Singh was hit with bricks and other blunt objects by two inmates, a police officer investigating the case told AFP, identifying the suspects only by single names Aamir and Mudasir. "These inmates attacked Singh while he was doing his evening walk. We don't exactly know at the moment what was the reason for this attack but initial investigation reveals that they had exchanged hot words with Singh," he said on condition of anonymity. Singh's lawyer Owais Sheikh told AFP his client had received threats following the execution of Afzal Guru in India. Afzal Guru was hanged in New Delhi on February 9 for his part in a deadly attack on Parliament in 2001. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday described it as a "very sad incident", according to the PTI. Sarabjit Singh's sister, Dalbir Kaur, said Indian government officials had told her that Pakistan has granted visas for four family members to travel to Lahore and is also allowing one person to stay with him in the hospital. "We want to be with Sarabjit in this difficult time. He is all alone. We don't even know what his condition is," Kaur told AFP in Amritsar, a holy Sikh city in northern India.
Police on Sarturday registered a case of attempted murder against two prisoners for brutally assaulting Indian national Sarabjit Singh, who was in a "deep coma" in a hospital in Lahore. Official sources told PTI that the FIR against prisoners Amer Aftab and Mudassar was registered following a complaint from assistant superintendent Ishtiaq Ahmed Gill of Kot Lakhpath Jail. The two men were booked under sections 324 (attempted murder) and 334 (causing severe injuries) of the Pakistan Penal Code. Quoting the FIR, a police official said the two prisoners attacked Sarabjit after opening the gate of his barrack in one of the most secure sections of the jail. The official said another two prisoners, Ehsanul Haq and Muhammad Safdar, had claimed that they had come to save Sarabjit from the attackers. Aftab and Mudassar are death row prisoners and have been held at Kot Lakhpat Jail since 2009 and 2005, respectively. However, sources told PTI that at least six prisoners were involved in the attack on 49-year-old Sarabjit. The identities of the other prisoners could not immediately be ascertained. Aftab was sentenced to death after being convicted of murder. He was involved in robberies and other serious crimes.  Sarabjit Singh's daughter Swapandeep Kaur and his sister Dalbir Kaur break down after hearing the news about an attack on him in Kot Lakhpat Rai Jail in Pakistan, at their residence in Jalandhar. HT/Pardeep Pandit In a separate development, an inquiry committee headed by deputy inspector general of police Malik Mubashir interrogated all six accused within the jail. The six prisoners are being held in a special barrack under high security, sources said. According to the sources, Mubashir will submit his report to provincial and federal authorities later on Saturday. There has been no official word from the jail's administration or the caretaker Punjab government on the incident or Sarabjit's condition. Doctors at the state-run Jinnah Hospital, where Sarabjit was admitted on Friday, have refused to speak to the media. Official sources told PTI that Sarabjit was in a "deep coma" and had been put on a ventilator.  Pakistani police officers stand guard at an emergency ward where Indian spy Sarabjit Singh is admitted at a local hospital in Lahore, Pakistan. AP Doctors were unable to perform surgery on him on Friday because of extensive internal bleeding caused by a severe head injury. "No surgery can be performed till his condition stabilises," a source said. Two officials of the Indian High Commission got consular access to Sarabjit Singh in the ICU of Jinnah Hospital at about 2 am. The Indian mission had contacted Pakistan's Foreign Office last night to seek consular access. Sarabjit was convicted of alleged involvement in a string of bomb attacks in Punjab province that killed 14 people in 1990. His mercy petitions were rejected by the courts and former President Pervez Musharraf. The outgoing Pakistan Peoples Party-led government put off Sarabjit's execution for an indefinite period in 2008. Sarabjit's family says he is the victim of mistaken identity and had inadvertently strayed across the border in an inebriated state.
Sarabjit's family members in Punjab said on Saturday that they wanted to leave for Pakistan immediately to take care of him. Sarabjit's sister Dalbir Kaur, who has been spearheading the campaign for his release from Lahore's Kot Lakhpat prison, and his wife and two daughters, arrived on Saturday morning from their hometown Bhikhiwind, 50 km from Amritsar.  Sarabjit's daughter and sister watching news on TV at their residence in Jalandhar on Friday. Pardeep Pandit/HT The family members met Raj Kumar Verka, vice chairman of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes, to demand that their request for visas to Pakistan be submitted with the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi. "We want to be with Sarabjit in this difficult time. He is all alone. We don't even know what his condition is. We are getting the reports only through news channels and his lawyer," Dalbir Kaur said. The family was left shocked on Friday evening after hearing that Sarabjit Singh was critically injured following an attack by 5-6 prisoners in the Lahore prison. A sobbing Dalbir Kaur alleged that Sarabjit was apprehending an attack on himself for some time now as he was receiving threats from other inmates. "Some prisoners had been threatening him. It was a conspiracy and he was deliberately attacked. Why was he not protected... I want to go to Pakistan immediately," she said. "If our government had taken steps, this attack would not have taken place. I had met the home minister (Sushilkumar Shinde), (minister of state for external affairs) Preneet Kaur and all others with letters mentioning that Sarabjit Singh could be attacked. No one did anything and the attack has taken place," she added. Pakistan human rights activist Ansar Burney, who has been pleading for clemency to Sarabjit Singh, also said the attack looked "suspicious". "The attack looks suspicious. Someone could be behind this. No bricks or other material can reach the place where Sarabjit had been kept. This must be thoroughly investigated," Burney told news channels from Karachi. The Indian High Commission has urged the Pakistani government to provide all necessary medical and other support to him, said officials in New Delhi. Sarabjit Singh has been on a death row in Pakistan since 1990 after being convicted by Pakistani courts for bomb blasts in Lahore and Multan cities which left 14 people dead. Sarabjit's family claims that he had inadvertently crossed into Pakistan in August 1990 in an inebriate state and was arrested there. But police in Pakistan claimed Sarabjit Singh, who is known as Manjit Singh in that country, was involved in acts of terrorism. A resident of Bhikhiwind township, along the India-Pakistan border, he has been languishing in Pakistani jails since then. Chamel Singh, said to be in his 60s, was serving a five-year term for espionage and died at the Jinnah Hospital Jan 15. During an autopsy done on March 13 - nearly two months after his death - marks of injury had reportedly been found on the body. His family alleged he was killed in the prison but no probe was carried out by Pakistani authorities. His body was returned to India last month. (With inputs from AFP, PTI)  via Top Stories - Google News http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNHE87WhCT5X3aw2pF3nXbQsGY43IA&url=http://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/Pakistan/Sarabjit-s-head-injury-quite-severe-kin-granted-Pak-visa-PM-condemns-brutal-attack/Article1-1051170.aspx | |||
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