Even after 45 hours after of being admitted in Jinnah Hospital with a severe head injury, Indian death-row convict Sarabjit Singh, currently in coma, has shown “no sign” of recovery or improvement, Pakistani doctors said.
The doctors believe Sarabjit’s chances of survival are “slim” as he sustained injuries over a widespread area of his head.
The doctors found a haematoma (a localised collection of blood outside vessels) larger than 3 cm, indicating that he was in need of surgical intervention, the sources said. Another source quoted doctors as saying that Sarabjit’s condition was measured as 5 on the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS).
Medical board members examined him on Sunday and agreed that it would not be possible to perform surgery at this stage. A separate intensive care unit has been set up in Jinnah Hospital for Sarabjit's security. People have been barred from approaching the unit and a large police contingent has been deployed there.
The Pakistani Government “provided second consular access to Indian diplomats presently stationed in lahore”, said a statement issued by Foreign Office spokesman Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry. The Indian officials were 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. It could not immediately be ascertained whether Pakistan had granted consular access only for one visit by Indian officials to the ICU of Jinnah Hospital.
Earlier in the day, India had sought “regular consular access” so that its officials could visit Sarabjit and keep track of his treatment round the clock. Two officials of the Indian High Commission were allowed to visit Sarabjit for a few minutes on Saturday.
Official sources in New Delhi said, that India is also seeking permission for the Indian members of the India-Pakistan judicial committee to visit Sarabjit.
Sarabjit's family arrived in lahore from Amritsar on Sunday afternoon to be with him. After meeting him at the hospital, the family pleaded that he be allowed to be taken back to India or any other country immediately for treatment. “When we met him in the ICU, he was just lying there. Doctors told us that his condition was critical. Please help us save my brother's life,” Sarabjit’s elder sister Dalbir Kaur said in lahore.
She is accompanied by his wife Sukhpreet Kaur, and two daughters, Swapandeep and Poonam. “I plead to our Government with folded hands. Please take him to any country for his treatment. Don't waste time, save him. So far, when I tried to fight for his freedom, I only got hollow assurances,” she said.
Sarabjit's wife Sukhpreet Kaur appealed to Pakistani authorities to send her husband back to Mother India for better treatment.
Before crossing over to Pakistan, Sarabjit's sister Dalbir Kaur told reporters that the brutal assault was not possible without the involvement of jail authorities in lahore and Pakistan should take immediate action against the perpetrators of the attack.
Dalbir Kaur said, “Sarabjit had been stabbed with knives and someone must have told the jail inmates that all these were available in the prison. This had been intentionally done to Sarabjit. Kaur recalled that when she had gone to meet Sarabjit in the jail, the prison authorities had not even allowed to her to carry a handkerchief. The food items she was carrying for her brother were checked after tearing the packets.
According to a preliminary report prepared by Deputy Inspector General of Police (Prisons) Malik Mubashir, the accused - Amer Aftab and Mudassar- said they hated Sarabjit because he was accused of killing many Pakistanis in bomb blasts in 1990 and wanted to kill him to take revenge. Mubashir has submitted the report to the Home Department of Punjab province, official sources said.
Meanwhile in India, the Pakistan-India Peoples' Forum for Peace and Democracy has condemned the attack and sought a probe. “We feel a high-level, independent inquiry need to be set up to look into the incident. The investigation, inquiry needs to go to the bottom of it and must punish responsible persons, officials however higher they may be,” forum General Secretary E Deenadayalan and Joint Secretary Jatin Desai said in a statement.
BJP activists held a protest against the attack asked the Centre to take serious measures to check the “atrocities” on Indian prisoners lodged in Pakistan jails.
“They are not issuing any medical report about the attack on him. We fear that the way they killed Chamel Singh, they are trying to do the same with Sarabjit,” said an agitating protester.