ISLAMABAD: A police official allegedly attempted to kill himself at Police Lines Headquarters on Monday.

Police said that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa official, identified as Head Constable Siddiq Khan, tried to slit his own throat because a senior official refused to grant him leave.

Police Lines Headquarters houses mainly senior police officials. A contingent from the KP police had come from Swat at the request of the Islamabad police as part of the security arrangements made in connection with the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) sit-in in the capital.

The contingent was provided accommodation in the police barracks at Police Lines, they said.

Police said that the police official was discovered by his colleagues on Sunday morning outside the barracks with his throat slit. He was taken to hospital and has been admitted to the surgical intensive care unit (ICU) at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences.

Pims spokesperson Dr Wasim Khawaja told Dawn the official was on a ventilator because his condition is serious. He said he lost blood and some of his veins were also damaged.

“He is under observation and the doctors will examine him on Tuesday,” he said, adding that based on his condition they will decide whether to keep him in the ICU or move him to the surgical ward.

A police official told Dawn that the preliminary investigation suggests that the official was facing domestic problems and wanted to return home. He had asked senior officials who came with the contingent for leave. The request was refused despite several attempts, the official said, leaving his distressed.

The official said that he returned to the barracks on Sunday morning after performing his security duty, locked himself in the bathroom and slit his throat.

He said that he somehow then left the bathroom and ran outside the barracks, adding that the bathroom was covered in blood.

Industrial Area Superintendent of Police (SP) ZubairSheikh has begun investigating the matter, as Police Lines is in his jurisdiction.

Police said the SP visited the scene and collected information. Eyewitnesses will soon be called for statements, and the official’s colleagues will be contacted as well. SP Sheikh will also look into the domestic issues the official was facing, whether he applied for leave and why the leave was denied.

In June 2007, Punjab Constabulary constable Imam Buksh died while in the capital, where he was among the reinforcements for the Islamabad police in the wake of the Lal Masjid operationand judicial crises.

Buksh was found dead in a room in the Capital Development Authority flats in G-6/1 on June 19. He had been requesting leave because he was unwell, but he was not allowed to go to a hospital or given first aid. PC personnel held a protest at Aabpara Chowk against his death.

Published in Dawn, November 12th, 2019