Sanaullah's family keen on taking him back

Chandigarh: As Pakistani prisoner Sanaullah Haq continues to battle for life in a hospital here, his family on Tuesday said he should be sent back to his country along with them.

Ranjay's relatives - brother-in-law Mohammed Sehzaad and nephew Mohammed Asif - spent around five minutes with their relative admitted in the ICU of Advanced Trauma Centre at Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), after reaching the hospital from Wagah border under heavy security cover.

After meeting his relative, who is in deep coma and diagnosed with jaundice, making his chances of survival bleak, Sehzaad told reporters that they want to take their relative back to Pakistan along with them. "I appeal to Government of India to send Sanaullah with us back to Pakistan," said Sehzaad, who is on a 15-day visa with Asif.

"His (Sanaullah) condition appears to be worse, he is not well," he said adding that the family has lost hopes of Sanaullah's recovery. Sehzaad and Asif were accompanied by two officials of the Pakistan embassy. Meanwhile, Sanaullah developed jaundice, which is a sign of severe infection, the PGIMER medical bulletin said.

Fifty two-year-old Sanaullah Haq, a resident of Sialkot in Pakistan, is serving a life term after being convicted under TADA provisions, following his arrest in 1999. He was injured during a scuffle with another inmate in the high-security Kot Bhalwal jail in Jammu and was immediately shifted to the Government Medical College Hospital, Jammu and later on rushed to PGIMER here in an air ambulance after doctors said his condition was critical.