Under watch: Jinnah Avenue gunman still in critical condition

Pims on high alert, police deployed inside hospital premises.

ISLAMABAD:

Muhammad Sikandar, the armed man involved in the six hour long stand-off on Jinnah Avenue, is not out of danger according to Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) officials.

Talking to The Express Tribune, Dr Waseem Khawaja said that he was brought to Pims at around 11:30 pm on Thursday and underwent a four hours long successful surgery and although his condition was better than before, he is still not out of danger.

He said Sikandar was shifted to surgical intensive care unit (ICU) and was put on ventilator for nine hours which was later removed when his blood pressure became stable.

He got one bullet to the right side of his chest, piercing through his lung and one to the left leg resulting in a fractured bone. He also had nose fracture as he fell and hit his head on the ground.”He is not in a condition to talk,” the doctor said.

His wife Kanwal received a single bullet injury on her left leg according to Wasim. She was admitted in the surgical ICU with her condition now stable. “She will be discharged soon,” he added.

Dr Rizwan Taj, head of psychiatry, Pims and president of Pakistan Psychiatry Society told The Express Tribune that he was called by the hospital administration to assess her mental health when she got stable.

He said Kanwal claimed that her husband was very violent and used to beat her every day. He was consuming Lexotanil — a pharmaceutical drug used for anxiety, tension or agitation — along with excessive amount of hashish and alcohol, she said.

According to Dr Taj, he had a psychopathic personality and on Thursday he had consumed excessive amount of drugs due to which his behaviour was not normal and as a result he put the life of his wife and children at risk along with those of many others nearby.

Meanwhile, Pims was put on high alert the moment he started aerial firing and police personnel were deployed within the premises of the hospital and outside the ICU after Sikandar and his wife were brought there.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 17^th, 2013.