A 60-year-old Indian fisherman who had completed his prison term and was awaiting release has died at a local hospital in Pakistan's biggest city.
Dadu Bhai, who was an inmate at the Malir district jail, died yesterday from illness, a senior jail official said.
"Dadu suddenly took ill on Wednesday and was receiving treatment at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) when he passed away," Shunail Shah, the Assistant Superintendent of Police at Malir jail, said.
Shah confirmed that Dadu had completed his jail sentence when he passed away.
"He had been in jail since last November and was anxiously awaiting his release. We are also shocked because he was a very energetic person and was in high spirits when he fell ill," the police official said.
"He had completed his prison term and was only awaiting release orders," the Assistant Superintendent of Police at the jail, Shunail H Shah, said.
"He was looking forward to going back to India and reuniting with his family.
"Doctors at JMC said the Indian prisoner was brought to the hospital complaining of low blood pressure and high fever.
"He was treated in the emergency ward but passed away on Thursday morning," one doctor said.
"The cause of death is hypotension and cardiopulmonary failure," he said.
Officials said Dadu's body had been shifted to the Edhi trust morgue and they were awaiting further orders from the Indian embassy officials.
"The authorities here cannot conduct a postmortem unless we get permission from the Indian embassy," the ASP said.
The dead body of the Indian fisherman could not be shifted from Pakistan due to lengthy procedures about autopsies of imprisoned citizens dying in the rival country.
Spokesman of the Indian High Commission told PTI today that the body will be flown home after its post-mortem which will be performed after Pakistan officially conveyed about the incident to the Indian diplomats.
"So far we have not been formally informed about it," the spokesman said.
It means that dead body of the fisherman will remain inPakistan for many days before the two sides complete the diplomatic niceties of writing letters to each others.
According to official lists of exchanged by the two countries on July 1, there are 491 Indians currently in Pakistani jails whereas 386 Pakistan are held in various jails of India.
Pakistani and Indian maritime authorities frequently arrest fishermen who stray into each other's territorial waters.
Ansar Burney of the Ansar Burney Welfare Trust said he was saddened by the news of Dadu's death.
"Only yesterday I again urged the Pakistani authorities to release those poor Indian prisoners who had completed their jail terms," he said.