ISLAMABAD/RAWAL­PINDI: A prison guard at the Adiala Jail shot and injured on Thursday a 71-year-old British-Pakistani man impri­soned over blasphemy charges.

The injured man, who is said to have a history of mental illness, is being treated at a hospital in the garrison city and is reportedly out of danger. However, he has been moved to a separate ward to ensure his safety.

Adiala Jail Superinten­dent Malik Mushtaq Awan told Dawn that an internal inquiry had been launched to establish how the guard — who was not deputed at the barracks where the blasphemy accused was kept in solitary confinement — managed to get to the victim.

According to the superintendent, eight prison officials, including four officers, had been suspended following the incident and that the jail administration would present its report on the matter on Friday.

According to a senior officer at the prison, the assailant came to the cell block where the victim was being held and managed to convince the guard at the door to let him in, under false pretenses.

The accused spent some time with another prisoner in the same cell block and then, quite suddenly, pulled a 30-bore handgun from his shoe and shot twice at the victim, who was inside his cell at the time.

Raja Rashid, station house officer (SHO) at the Saddar Bairooni police station, told Dawn that a case had been registered against the shooter, who was originally from Chiniot. He said that in addition to the pistol and two magazines with 17 bullets, a dagger was also recovered from the accused guard.

Police officials deployed on guard duty inside prisons are usually prohibited from carrying any weapons. Police say they are investigating how the attacker brought the weapons into the prison.

The victim was immediately taken to the Rawalpindi District Headquarters Hospital, where he was briefly treated in the Intensive Care Unit. The deputy medical superintendent told Dawn that the victim was hit by one bullet, which broke two of his ribs and punctured his right lung.

According to Superintendent (SP) Karamatullah Malik of Rawal Division, police were wary of keeping the injured man at the DHQ’s ICU, because one of the victims of the recent attack on Darul Uloom Taleemul Quran Khateeb Mufti Amanullah was also being treated in the same ward.

Looking to avoid a clash, law-enforcement agencies shifted the injured man to another hospital in Rawalpindi. The victim’s legal team said that his family was now with him at the hospital. Security has been beefed up at the hospital where the victim is currently being treated.

Hospital sources also told Dawn that the British High Commission (BHC) had also inquired after their citizen. A spokesperson for the BHC told Dawn, “We can confirm that a British national has been injured in prison in Pakistan. We are providing consular assistance (to him) and have raised our concerns with the local authorities at the highest level.”

Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has formed a four-member probe committee – which includes the Punjab additional home secretary, the inspector general for prisons, the Rawalpindi commissioner and the Rawalpindi police chief – and asked them to present their report within 24 hours.

According to Rawalpindi Commissioner Zahid Saeed, the committee will visit the jail and interview prisoners and police officials who witnessed the incident. “Apparently, this seems like negligence on part of the jail administration,” he said.

According to his counsel, the victim is a resident of Scotland in the UK and came to Pakistan to settle a property dispute.

His opponents managed to get hold of some unsent letters the man had written, where he had allegedly made blasphemous claims. When the victim was in Saudi Arabia for Umrah in 2010, an FIR was registered against him on blasphemy charges and he was arrested on his return to Pakistan.

The lawyer told Dawn that his client had been diagnosed with a mental disorder and had already undergone treatment for a psychological condition in the UK. He said that he had tried to present his client’s medical records during his trial before a sessions judge, but the court had refused to entertain them.

Published in Dawn, September 26th, 2014