Sarabjit chances ‘slim’
Pakistani doctors treating Indian death row prisoner Sarabjit Singh, now lying in deep coma in a Lahore hospital, warned on Sunday that he may die unless he is moved abroad for better treatment, sources said.
“There are slim chances that he will survive if he stays here and is not given better medical facilities. He is slowly moving away from life,” a doctor at Lahore’s Jinnah Hospital told this newspaper.
Some of Sarabjit’s family members arrived in Pakistan through the Wagah border on Sunday to visit him in hospital. His wife, sister and two daughters were granted special visas to visit Pakistan. Sarabjit was grievously hurt after being attacked by fellow prisoners at Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat Jail last week.
Pakistan on Sunday, meanwhile, halted India’s consular access to Sarabjit, and imposed restrictions on meeting him. “Indian officials were given access to Sarabjit only once. Thereafter, there has been no access,” an official at the Indian high commission in Islamabad said. “The matter has been taken up with the Pakistani side and the foreign office has been asked to give us regular con- sular access to Sarabjit Singh,” the official added.
Late-night reports appeared to indicate that Pakistan, under sustained diplomatic pressure by New Delhi, had agreed to allow consular access for a second time.
Earlier, two high commission officials were allowed to visit Sarabjit in an intensive care unit at Jinnah Hospital only for a few minutes early on Saturday. The Pakistani side then informed the Indians that the consular access granted on Friday was meant for only one visit. Indian officials then urged the Pakistanis to allow unhindered access to Sarabjit given his condition.
More than 45 hours after Sarabjit was admitted to Jinnah Hospital in Lahore, there has been “no sign” of recovery or any improvement in his condition, doctors said.
Injuries over a widespread area of his head led to unconsciousness.
Sarabjit’s sister Dalbir Kaur, wife Sukhpreet Kaur and daughters Swapandeep and Poonam saw him at Jinnah Hospital. A senior doctor said they 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”.
Dalbir Kaur said: “Sarabjit’s face is swollen... He is unconscious, in a very critical condition.”