JHANG, April 7 An under-trial prisoner incarcerated at the District Jail for the past 11 years stitched his lips to protest against authorities concerned for not initiating his trial proceedings.

The Jhang city police arrested Muhammad Khan Baloch, of Shah Nikdar, Sargodha district, in a dacoity case in 1998.

He was sent to jail after the completion of his 14-day physical remand. However, his trial could not start since then and he is undergoing incarceration on judicial remand.

On Sunday, he stitched his lips to protest the inordinate delay in launch of his trial. The jail administration took him to DHQ Hospital where doctors removed the stitches.

According to jail sources, the police or the court concerned had lost Baloch's case file and this indeed rendered his trial impossible. The prisoner had spent much more time than the prescribed punishment for the offence and even if he was convicted and sentenced to maximum period of imprisonment, he would have been released much earlier, they added.