RAWALPINDI, Nov 23: Former president of the Supreme Court Bar Association Munir A. Malik has been shifted from the Attock jail to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) hospital in Islamabad amid tight security, it is learnt.

Official sources told Dawn that Mr Malik was likely to be taken back to jail from the hospital some time on Friday night.

The superintendent of the Adiala jail confirmed that he had been told that Mr Malik might be shifted to his jail.

According to our Attock correspondent, Mr Malik was shifted to the Pims hospital at around 6pm, jail sources said, adding that Attock Jail Medical Officer Dr Mohammad Ali Shah Bukhari accompanied him.

Earlier, Mr Malik was examined in the Attock jail hospital by medical specialist of the Attock district headquarters hospital Dr Mohammad Riaz and Jail Medical Officer Dr Bukhari. The doctors reported that the lawyer was suffering from liver and kidney problems.

Jail authorities informed officials of the Punjab government and prison about the serious nature of the illness. The provincial home department directed the Attock jail officials to shift Mr Malik to Pims, sources said.

Mr Malik had been taken to the Attock district jail from Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi on Nov 11. He was detained under the Maintenance of Public Order for three months along with other senior lawyers, including Aizaz Ahasn, Ali Ahmed Kurd, Justice (retd) Tariq Mahmood following the imposition of emergency on Nov 3.

Dawn staff reporter in Karachi adds: nine representatives of the Bar in Karachi have demanded ‘unconditional release forthwith’ of Mr Malik in view of his serious illness.

A joint statement issued on Friday by Pakistan Bar Council members Rasheed A. Razvi, Abul Inam and Sen Farooq H. Naek; Sindh High Court Bar Association president Abrar Hasan, Karachi Bar Association president Iftikhar Javed Qazi, Sindh Bar Council members Mehmoodul Hasan and Mohammad Ali Abbasi; and SCBA executive members Khawaja Mansoor and Ziaul Haq Makhdoom said: “We have learnt from reliable sources that Munir A. Malik was shifted to the Attock Jail hospital on Thursday as he was seriously ill.

“It is very strange and shocking that while all the political leaders and human rights activists have been released, four eminent lawyers, including Mr Malik, are still being held in custody.

We are of the firm view that the arrest of all these lawyers is not only unlawful but also mala fide. Keeping in view the serious illness of Mr Malik, who is also a former member of the Pakistan Bar Council, we demand his unconditional release forthwith as there are no proper medical facilities in the Attock Jail”.