Islamabad/Lahore, Apr 27 (PTI): Indian national Sarabjit Singh was in a "deep coma" and put on ventilator support after being assaulted by a group of prisoners in a Pakistani jail, with doctors today saying that they will not be able to perform surgery on him till his condition stabilises.

Sarabjit, 49, was in an Intensive Care Unit of the state-run Jinnah Hospital in Lahore, where he was admitted yesterday after being brutally beaten by at least six other prisoners within his barrack at the Kot Lakhpat Jail.

Official sources told PTI that Sarabjit was in a "deep coma" and doctors were unable to perform surgery on him yesterday because of extensive internal bleeding caused by a severe head injury.

"No surgery can be performed till his condition stabilises," a source 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 news channels quoted their sources as saying that next 24 hours would be crucial for Sarabjit.

Two Indian High Commission officials got consular access to Sarabjit Singh in the ICU of Jinnah Hospital this morning.

"The officials of India's High Commission in Islamabad obtained access to Sarabjit in the ICU of Jinnah hospital, Lahore at 2:00 am," External Affairs Ministry spokesman Syed Akbaruddin said.

"Doctors attending to Sarabjit Singh informed the Indian officials that he is in coma on ventilator and receiving IV drip," he said.
The Indian mission had contacted Pakistan's Foreign Office last night to seek consular access.

The two Indian officials went to the hospital and spent some time with Sarabjit. They then drove away from the hospital without speaking to the media. Security has been beefed up at the hospital, where dozens of police commandos have been deployed.

Indian High Commission officials were in regular contact with the Medical Board attending to Sarabjit.
Even as Sarabjit was in coma, doctors carried out X-rays, MRI, CT scans on him.
Doctors have been carrying out trauma control and await stabilisation in condition before conducting further tests, Akbaruddin said.

Some news channels reported that a team of Indian doctors might visit Lahore to assist in Sarabjit's treatment though this could not be independently confirmed.

Earlier, sources told PTI that Sarabjit was attacked by at least six other prisoners within his barrack in one of the most secure sections of Kot Lakhpat Jail. He was hit on the head with bricks and his face, neck, and torso were cut with blade and pieces of a ghee tin.

Sarabjit was initially taken to the hospital within the prison. When his condition worsened, he was moved in an ambulance to Jinnah Hospital.

However, a murder case has been registered against two prisoners – Amer Aftab and Mudassar. 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.

Sarabjit was convicted for 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 former President Pervez Musharraf.

The outgoing Pakistan Peoples Party-led government put off Sarabjit's execution for an indefinite period in 2008.

Sarabjit's family says he is the victim of mistaken identity and had inadvertently strayed across the border in an inebriated state.

We want to go to Pakistan immediately: Sarabjit's family
Amritsar, Apr 27 (IANS): With Indian death row prisoner Sarabjit Singh in coma at a Lahore hospital after being fatally assaulted by fellow prisoners, his family members in Punjab said Saturday that they wanted to leave for Pakistan immediately to take care of him.

Sarabjit's sister Dalbir Kaur, who has been spearheading the campaign for his release from Lahore's Kot Lakhpat prison, and his wife and two daughters, arrived here Saturday morning from their hometown Bhikhiwind, 50 km from here.

The family members met Raj Kumar Verka, vice chairman of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes, to demand that their request for visas to Pakistan be submitted with the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi.

"We want to be with Sarabjit in this difficult time. He is all alone. We don't even know what his condition is. We are getting the reports only through news channels and his lawyer," Dalbir Kaur told IANS.

The family was left shocked Friday evening after hearing that Sarabjit Singh was critically injured following an attack by 5-6 prisoners in the Lahore prison. A sobbing Dalbir Kaur alleged that Sarabjit was apprehending an attack on himself for some time now as he was receiving threats from other inmates.

Sarabjit Singh was admitted to the intensive care unit of Lahore's Jinnah Hospital after the murderous attack on him. He reportedly suffered critical head injuries in the assault. He was attacked with bricks, sharp objects and plates.

The reason behind the assault was not immediately known. Doctors are battling to save his life, said an official of India's external affairs ministry. Indian High Commission officials in Islamabad are likely to get access to him Saturday.

The assault on Sarabjit comes a few months after the death of Indian prisoner Chamel Singh in the same Kot Lakhpat jail after he was allegedly assaulted by the jail staffers. Dalbir Kaur alleged that the attack on Sarabjit was "pre-meditated and deliberate".

"Some prisoners had been threatening him. It was a conspiracy and he was deliberately attacked. Why was he not protected... I want to go to Pakistan immediately," she said.

"If our government had taken steps, this attack would not have taken place. I had met the home minister (Sushilkumar Shinde), (minister of state for external affairs) Preneet Kaur and all others with letters mentioning that Sarabjit Singh could be attacked. No one did anything and the attack has taken place," she added.

Pakistan human rights activist Ansar Burney, who has been pleading for clemency to Sarabjit Singh, also said the attack looked "suspicious".

"The attack looks suspicious. Someone could be behind this. No bricks or other material can reach the place where Sarabjit had been kept. This must be thoroughly investigated," Burney told news channels from Karachi.

The Indian High Commission has urged the Pakistani government to provide all necessary medical and other support to him, said officials in New Delhi.

Sarabjit Singh has been on a death row in Pakistan since 1990 after being convicted by Pakistani courts for bomb blasts in Lahore and Multan cities which left 14 people dead. Sarabjit's family claims that he had inadvertently crossed into Pakistan in August 1990 in an inebriate state and was arrested there.

But police in Pakistan claimed Sarabjit Singh, who is known as Manjit Singh in that country, was involved in acts of terrorism.

A resident of Bhikhiwind township, along the India-Pakistan border, he has been languishing in Pakistani jails since then.

Chamel Singh, said to be in his 60s, was serving a five-year term for espionage and died at the Jinnah Hospital Jan 15. During an autopsy done on March 13 - nearly two months after his death - marks of injury had reportedly been found on the body.

His family alleged he was killed in the prison but no probe was carried out by Pakistani authorities. His body was returned to India last month.