Pakistan asks for immediate repatriation of injured prisoner

Pakistan Friday demanded immediate release and repatriation of its national Sanaullah, who was attacked in the high-security Kot Bhalwal Jail in Jammu.

The Pakistan high commission here asked for repatriation of the prisoner for purpose of medical treatment and on humanitarian grounds.

It also asked for evacuation of Sanaullah by an air ambulance, including assistance in ground facilitation.

Earlier, it had expressed serious concern over the attack and sought immediate consular access to him.

"Pakistan High Commission has taken up with the ministry of external affairs the attack on Pakistani prisoner Sanaullah in Kot Bhalwal in Jammu," said a statement.

"Pakistan High Commission has asked for detailed information of the incident, immediate consular access, medical facilities for the victim and security of inmates (other Pakistani prisoners)," it added.

Sanaullah was critically injured when he was attacked by a fellow prisoner, police in Jammu said Friday, a day after Indian death row prisoner Sarabjit Singh died following brutal attack on him in a Lahore jail.

Sanaullah, a resident of Sialkot, was attacked by a former Indian Army soldier, convicted for murder, following an altercation Friday morning, a police officer said.

He received serious head injuries and was taken to the Government Medical College Hospital in Jammu, where doctors said he had slipped into a coma, much like Sarabjit Singh who was attacked in Lahore's Kot Lakhpat Jail on April 26 and died Thursday.

Police said Sanaullah was being tried for murder since the late 1990s for carrying out acts of militancy in Jammu and Kashmir.