November 15, 2007	Thursday	Ziqa’ad 04, 1428

NAWABSHAH, Nov 14: Senior advocate and a member of Nawabshah District Bar Association, Hassan Tariq, was operated upon in Nawabshah Medical College Hospital on Wednesday for fractured ribs and internal injuries he reportedly suffered in lockup at the hands of police.

Police arrested the lawyer on Nov 8 from his residence in Essarpura and admitted him to the hospital on Nov 13 for injuries, which the lawyer insisted, were inflicted by police while the DPO denied he had ever been detained by police.

Later in the day, Mr Tariq told Dawn that police had silently set him at liberty because the policemen deployed outside his room in the hospital had conspicuously disappeared.

A senior doctor said on condition of anonymity that the patient had gone through pleural inspiration, a painful procedure in which blood was sucked out from the lungs.

He might have some fractured ribs but they could not be detected due to bleeding and a fresh X-ray after the blood had been sucked out would be helpful to detect them, he said adding that the patient was stable now.