Attari (Punjab): with doctors at a hospital in Lahore described as "slim" chances of survival of a severe beating to Indian Sarabjit Singh sentenced to death, his family unhappy Sunday sought help from the Indian government, which said it would do they can to bring him home.
Sarabjit's family came to Lahore Pakistan from Amritsar city Sunday afternoon to be with him. After meeting with him at the Jinnah hospital, the family begged to be allowed to be taken back to India or any other country immediately for treatment.
"When we met him in the ICU, he was lying there. Doctors told us that his condition was critical. Please help save the life of my brother," said the elder sister Dalbir Kaur Sarabjit in Lahore. She is accompanied by his wife Sukhpreet Kaur, and two daughters, Swapandeep and Poonam.
"His daughters called him 'Papa'. His wife called him. But he was there like a stone. I could not figure out what to say," said Dalbir Kaur.
"I urge our government with folded hands. Please take it to any country for treatment. Do not waste time, save it. Until now, when I tried to fight for freedom, I just gave assurances holes" he said.
Doctors at the hospital said the condition of Sarabjit was "critical" and "chances of survival are slim."
The Indian Minister of State for External Affairs Preneet Kaur said later in the evening, promisonng all the help.
"I think right now the priority is to stabilize it. Really do not think I could move at this stage. But we can certainly do everything we can. Thing we have done in the past and the matter has been incorporated into all levels" , Preneet Kaur told the NDTV news channel.
She said the government has always taken the issue of Sarabjit at all levels with Pakistan to come home on humanitarian grounds.
Sarabjit, 49, suffered serious head injuries in the assault from four to five prisoners with bricks and plates in prison in Kot Lakhpat jail in Lahore Friday. He has been in Pakistan jails for more than 22 years.
"I want to know how the iron bars, bricks, cutting and other things inside the prison came to carry out the attack on Sarabjit. Was a conspiracy," said Dalbir Kaur. Sarabjit's lawyer in Pakistan, Awais Sheikh, also claimed that Sarabjit was attacked under a conspiracy.
"Singh was diagnosed on Saturday with 3/15 Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) drafted in critical condition," said one of the doctors treating him said at dawn.
The doctor said that the GCS was a neurological scale to assess the level of consciousness after a deep wound in the head and reading 3/15 indicating deep unconsciousness.
The doctor, who was not identified, told Dawn that Sarabjit had suffered a bone fracture critical when he was taken to emergency surgery Friday night Jinnah Hospital.
During the clinical evaluation, it was determined that Sarabjit had diffuse brain injury over a wide area of the head that led to unconsciousness.
The doctors said that surgery can not be performed until the condition improves Sarabjit.
Sarabjit remains in intensive care unit separately unprecedented police security and no one was allowed to see him except doctors.
First Secretary of the High Commission of India in Islamabad CS Das also visited the hospital.
Before crossing into Pakistan from the checkpoint Attari-Wagah international border, 30 km from Amritsar, Sarabjit's family offered prayers at Harmandir Sahib, the holiest of Sikh shrines in Amritsar, popularly known as the Temple Gold, on Sunday morning.
"We go there with a lot of hope. Want him back safe and sound. His condition is such that there is some fear in our hearts.'ve Offered prayers to the Almighty to help him recover quickly," said Dalbir Kaur.
In New Delhi, the National Commission for Scheduled Castes summoned officials from the ministries of foreign affairs and home on the issue of helping Sarabjit. He also ordered the government to send a team of medical specialists Indians in Pakistan to treat Sarabjit, said commission vice Raj Kumar Verka.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today accused the Progressive Alliance government of the United (UPA) of not ensuring the safety of Sarabjit and demanded that he be immediately brought to India for treatment.
"There has been a lack of action by the government of India in the case of Sarabjit Singh. Spite of having given information of his family could be attacked and threatened in jail, the Indian government remained silent and did not ensure their safety, "BJP spokesman Prakash Javadekar.
Said a leading Pakistani daily, International News Sarabjit Sunday that the incident was a "sad".
In Mumbai, the Pakistan-India Peoples Forum for Peace and Democracy (PIPFPD) also requested a high-level independent inquiry into the attack on Sarabjit.
Sarabjit has been sentenced to death in Pakistan since 1990 after being convicted by the courts Pakistanis by bomb blasts in Lahore and Multan that left 14 dead. His family claims he is innocent, and he crossed to Pakistan in August 1990 while intoxicated, and was arrested there.