ISLAMABAD, Nov 24: Munir Malik, a former president of the Supreme Court Bar Association who was arrested after the imposition of emergency, has been diagnosed by a medical board as suffering from renal failure and doctors are mulling over the option of putting him on dialysis.

He is also suffering from a liver malfunction.

A panic-stricken Islamabad administration withdrew his detention orders after learning about his deteriorating health.

Earlier, the authorities had declared his ward a sub-jail, but later withdrew that order too.

Hospital sources said the firebrand lawyer was in a pretty bad shape.

Mr Malik was shifted from the Attock jail to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) on Friday evening when his condition started deteriorating rapidly.

Some of his colleagues managed to meet him during the transfer.

Talking to Dawn, one of them said Mr Malik was “dangerously ill”.

A strong police guard has been placed outside his room on the first floor of the private ward and he has not been allowed any visitors or attendants.

Lawyers urged the Islamabad administration to allow members of his family to meet him and to ensure appropriate treatment whether in Pakistan or abroad.

His colleagues allege that Mr Munir, along with a few others, had suffered “rough treatment” at the hands of the authorities.

In a late night development, Mr Munir was shifted to Medical I ward of PIMS for dialysis.