Doctors re-attach hand of suspected thief

MULTAN: Doctors have re-attached the hand of a man who accused the police of chopping it off after arresting him for allegedly stealing electrical cables in Vehari near Multan, officials said on Tuesday.

Ghulam Mustafa was accused along with a second man, Liaqat Ali, of stealing cables in the Vehari District of southern Punjab.

The case is the latest to outrage rights activists following the bludgeoning to death of a pregnant 25-year-old outside Lahore's High Court last week, with one prominent lawyer saying it showed the country was "drifting fast towards barbarism".

The men said police chopped off one of each of their hands on May 30, but officers insist the men inflicted the wounds on themselves in order to commit suicide.

"The doctors have rejoined the hand of one of the accused at the government-run Bahawalpur Victoria Hospital, as his skin was still intact and his hand was clinging to him though his wrist bone," Sadiq Ali Gujjar, a local police official told AFP.

He said the severed hand of the other suspect was found in the police station.

The police said they were now investigating two officials over the incident and had suspended five others including the station's chief.

"We are investigating the incident" said Amjad Javaid Saleemi, a senior police official.

"We have registered cases against two police officials while five police officials including the n-charge of the police station have been suspended" he added.