Indian death-row convict Sarabjit Singh is in “deep coma” and has been put on ventilator support with doctors on Saturday saying that they won’t be able to perform surgery on him till his condition stabilises.
Sarabjit, 49, is in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the state-run Jinnah Hospital in lahore, where he was admitted on Friday after being brutally attacked with blades and pieces of a ghee tin by at least six other prisoners within his barrack at the Kot lakhpat Jail.
“His condition is critical as he has sustained severe injuries on his head, jaws, abdomen and other parts. He has been put on ventilator support,” a senior doctor at the hospital said.
The sources quoted doctors at Jinnah Hospital as saying that Sarabjit’s condition was measured as 5 on the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS), which indicates the level of damage or injury to a person’s central nervous system.
The GCS comprises tests of eye, verbal and motor responses. The three separate values and their sum are considered in deciding a person’s status. The lowest possible GCS score is 3 while the highest is 15. Pakistani TV channels quoted sources as saying that the next 24 hours would be crucial for Sarabjit.
Pakistan High Commission’s Press Attache Manzoor Ali Menon said Sarabjit’s wife Sukhpreet Kaur, daughter Poonam, Swapandeep Kaur, and his sister Dalbir Kaur have been given on priority basis a “Gratis Visa for 15 days for lahore and Nankana Sahab.” They will enter Pakistan by road crossing Attari border.
“We want to be there to be on his side and see the medical treatment being meted out to him,” said Kaur.She said officials have informed her that Pakistan Government has allowed one family member to stay in the lahore hospital where Sarabjit, whose condition continues to be critical, is under treatment. Sarabjit's family says that he is a victim of mistaken identity and who had inadvertently strayed across the border.
"The family knew that Sarabjit was under threat as he had written in the letters that he was getting threats from the radical Muslim prisoners in the jail. We had already requested for his security but the jail authorities ignored it and he is fighting for his life now," said Poonam.
In a very meek response, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh termed the incident as very sad. "It is very sad. I think in the jail, I think some inmates attacked him. I think that is very sad," he said when media persons asked about Sarabjit.
Two retired Indian judges KS Gill and MA Khan and their Pakistani counterparts, all members of India-Pakistan Joint Judicial Committee of Prisoners, will in the next couple of days visit the lahore jail where Sarabjit was grievously injured by other inmates. The judges will see the condition of Indian inmates. The jurists had on Friday visited the Karachi jail and are scheduled to visit Rawalpindi jail too.
Sarabjit was convicted for his 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 by former President Pervez Musharraf. However, the outgoing Pakistan Peoples Party-led Government put off Sarabjit's execution for an indefinite period in 2008.
A murder case was registered against two prisoners - Amer Aftab and Mudassar - involved in the assault. Sources said Aftab, who was on death row after being convicted of murder, had quarrelled with Sarabjit and attempted to attack him some days ago.
Meanwhile, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan on Saturday strongly condemned the attack on Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh and urged the federal government to conduct an inquiry into the matter and punish those responsible for the incident.