LAHORE: Former chief executive officer (CEO) of University of Sargodha’s Lahore campus Mian Javed Ahmed, who was in Camp Jail in connection with a National Accountability Bureau (NAB) inquiry, died in prison reportedly of cardiac arrest on Friday.

According to Punjab Inspector General (Prisons) Shahid Saleem Baig, Mr Ahmed, 45, complained of pain in his chest after which he was taken to the Services Hospital where he breathed his last before getting any medical aid. Quoting doctors, Mr Baig told Dawn that Mr Ahmed died of “severe cardiac arrest”.

The Services Hospital said Mr Ahmed was “received dead”.

The family of the deceased has held the jail authorities responsible for his death. “The health condition of Mr Ahmed was not well. He reported this to the jail authorities on Friday morning, but they did not bother about it and delay in shifting him to hospital resulted in his death. His life might have been saved had he been given medical treatment on time,” a relative of Mr Ahmed told Dawn.

Requesting not to be named, he said that at the family’s request for post-mortem of Mr Ahmed was being conducted to know the exact cause of his death.

IG Baig, however, dismissed the allegation, saying: “Mr Ahmed was ‘simply’ rushed to hospital immediately after his condition started deteriorating.”

The jail authorities also faced criticism on social media after the picture of the deceased body in handcuffs went viral. People from different walks of life on the social networking sites demanded “respect for the dead” from the jail authorities.

The Federation of All Pakistan Universities Academic Staff Association and the Punjab Teachers Union have condemned the treatment being meted out to teachers by investigation agencies and jail authorities. “If the government cannot ensure respect for teachers, at least it should stop humiliation of the body,” the teachers’ body said, urging the chief justice of Pakistan to take notice of this.

A jail official said it was a routine practice that prisoners were taken to hospitals in handcuffs. “Had Mr Javed been given any treatment in hospital, his handcuffs would have been removed,” he added.

Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar has taken notice of the incident and sought a report from the IG prisons. He also inquired as to why the handcuffs of Mr Ahmed were not removed.

Earlier, NAB had faced the ire of the Supreme Court for producing former professors of the Punjab University before court in handcuffs.

Mian Javed Ahmed was arrested by NAB in October along with former vice chancellor of University of Sargodha Mohammad Akram, former registrar retired Brig Rao Jamil, Mandi Bahauddin sub-campus CEO Waris and his partner Naeem, and former director admin Akram for illegally opening sub-campuses in Lahore and Mandi Bahauddin and allegedly embezzling millions of rupees.

A NAB official told Dawn that Javed Ahmed and other suspects in this case had been shifted to the Camp Jail on Oct 19 on judicial remand. “All suspects, including Mr Ahmed, were in good health when sent on judicial remand. The jail authorities do not take the custody of a suspect (from NAB or other investigation agency) if he is not in good health,” he said and expressed NAB officials’ sorrow over his demise.

Regarding the progress in the case, another official said NAB was going to file a reference against the suspects in the Sargodha University sub-campuses scam. None of the suspects had sought for plea bargain, he said, adding that the suspects had allegedly opened illegal campuses and “extorted” millions of rupees from students who suffered a great deal as they could not get degrees.

Following a series of protests by students in Lahore, Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar had taken a suo motu notice of the matter and directed NAB to investigate the matter.

Published in Dawn, December 22nd, 2018