ISLAMABAD, Oct 3: Niaz Mohammad Khaskheli, who tried self- immolation in front of the Supreme Court on Monday to attract attention to his miseries, is struggling for life in a private ward of the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) under police custody.

Doctors say the 38-year-old father of three from Sindh may survive but are skeptical about his chances of a full recovery and rehabilitation into normal life.

Ideally he should be treated at a burns unit for his 60 per cent burns rather than a private ward of a hospital.

His friends and doctors described Khaskheli as a problematic young man with suicidal tendency.

One of his friends, asking not to be named, said he had also made several suicidal attempts before.

He had forced his aging parents to pay for his visit to Islamabad for finding a job by threatening to commit suicide, he added.

Now the unfortunate parents are on their way to Islamabad to look after their son.

Khaskheli had never been successful in life. An unskilled high school dropout, he succeeded in getting jobs a number of times, but failed to keep them mostly because of his attitude. His last job was in a private diagnostic laboratory in Blue Area. He lasted there almost a week before he was forced out by one of his referees after he allegedly stole a cell phone from the hostel he lived.

The referee, who also hails from Sindh, took such an extreme view of the theft allegation that he also got him removed from the hostel. He later moved to his uncle’s home in Wah where he was not entertained either and asked to go back to his home town Sanghar.

This sudden loss of social support from friends and sympathisers apparently forced him to attempt suicide.

A doctor, when asked, said he was still not remorseful of his act. “We would gradually make him realise that he had done wrong,” said the doctor.

Khaskheli’s friends say he was never a caring father. Living in abject poverty two of his three daughters are extremely sick.

Eminent psychiatrist and vice-chancellor University of Health Sciences Prof Mubasshar Hussain Malik said attempting suicide was a symptom of extreme depression.

“The man appears to be having personality disorder and problems in adjusting to the society,” he said.