NAWABSHAH, Nov 13: A senior advocate and member of the Nawabshah District Bar Association, who had been allegedly tortured by police in the lock-up, was on Tuesday shifted to the local hospital in serious condition.

Hassan Tariq, active in protests against the imposition of the state of emergency, was arrested on Nov 8. He told Dawn in the chest ward of the Nawabshah Medical College Hospital that he had fallen unconscious after police tortured him at the time of arrest.

“When I regained consciousness, I found myself in the lockup where I had severe breathing problem.”

He said he kept requesting them to take him to a hospital, adding that he was once taken to a doctor and was provided some pills which proved ineffective.

A senior doctor said the lawyer had been admitted as a general patient and without any police letter, but police were deployed outside the room. He said the patient was suffering from haematoma and had injuries on his ribs.

He said the lawyer was also complaining of serious breathing problem and might lose a lung. The doctor said the patient was under observation and would be operated upon on Wednesday morning.

Dr Zakira, wife of Advocate Tariq and a physician in the NMC Hospital, said that his condition was unstable and he had received serious lung and chest injury. She said that his blood tissues were also damaged and he might lose functioning of his lung permanently.

Earlier, head munshi of the A-section police station, Mohammad Mithal Solangi, told Dawn that the lawyer had been taken to the hospital because of some complaint and was back in the police station.

District Police Officer Dr Ghulam Sarwar Jamali denied that Mr Tariq had been detained, saying that no person with such name was arrested by police.

Nawabshah District Bar Association president Ali Mohammad Dahiri condemned the police torture and said that Advocate Tariq was innocent. He demanded that police officers involved in this heinous crime should be suspended.