SIALKOT, Nov 16: A Daska trader beaten up by armed black Americans in front of his house in the US has been in coma at the Duke University Medical Hospital in Durham, North Carolina, for the last 13 days.

The 30-year-old Rana Shehzad Ahmad was also deprived of thousands of dollars while returning home after closing his two general stores late in the night of Nov 2. He was beaten up by the alleged black American dacoits when he put up resistance. He sustained serious head injuries and was left unconscious by the alleged dacoits.

He remained lying there unattended throughout the chilly night. Next morning, he was spotted by a neighbour, Fazlur Rehman, who took him to the hospital.

When contacted, Mr Shahzad’s parents in Daska said they had applied for an emergency visa to the US and were waiting for a response from the US embassy in Islamabad.

Mr Shahzad’s father, Rana Bashir Ahmad, has urged President Gen Pervez Musharraf to take immediate notice of the brutal incident.