ISLAMABAD: An attempted suicide case has been registered against a man who climbed a cellular tower on Friday.

The case was registered with the Karachi Company police on the complaint of Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) Ameer Gondal, police said.

They said the man, identified as Mohammad Qasim, is in hospital under the observation of doctors but will be arrested when he is discharged. The police have also traced the man’s family and brought the matter to their knowledge, they said.

One of the man’s brothers is now in the capital and has told police that Mr Qasim left for Islamabad from Sialkot on Friday in search of work. Police quoted him as saying that his brother could not read or write and was unable to find a job.

They said he was shocked to hear that he had climbed the tower and sought a meeting with the prime minister and a job. He had said Mr Qasim did not seem stressed when he was leaving home.

The police also interrogated Mr Qasim in the hospital, where he told them he came to the capital and reached the venue of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) sit-in. He told police he suddenly decided to climb the tower, they said.

A police officer told Dawn that the statements from the man and his brother suggested he had not planned the move and was not aware of the consequences it could have.

He said the police would arrest him once he is discharged from the hospital and he will have to face legal procedure.

According to the FIR, the man climbed a cellular tower near the JUI-F sit-in and used a megaphone to demand that the prime minister be brought for a meeting with him. He also threatened to hang himself if his demand was not met.

Capital administration officials asked him to come down and said his demands would be fulfilled, but he suddenly tried to hang himself using a piece of rope, at which point he was rescued by a Counter Terrorism Force official and others who had climbed the tower. He was then shifted to a hospital.

Published in Dawn, November 10th, 2019