PAKISTANI FATHER OF SIX SETS HIMSELF ON FIRE OVER UNEMPLOYMENT

KARACHI, Pakistan - A Pakistani father of six daughters Tuesday drenched himself with petrol and set himself on fire in protest of his long-term unemployment as Pakistan's premier vowed to raise the existing grant for labourers' deaths to mark May Day.
Abdul Razzaq Ansari, a 45-year resident of Badin district, some 170 kilometres east of Karachi, immolated himself outside the Badin Press Club in front of dozens of onlookers. Television footage showed Ansari engulfed in flames as people tried to put the fire out.

• After the fire was put out Ansari beat himself as his wife and daughters cried.
• He was rushed to a government hospital but it had no facilities to treat the burn patient.
• "He was brought to us and we were just able to give him first aid as we don't have facility for the severe burn patients," a doctor at the Badin Civil Hospital told Gulf News.
• "He has up to 50 per cent burns on his body, which could be fatal," he said.
• Police officer Naik Mohammad said they were investigating the matter but so far no case had been registered.
• Local people said Ansari had been faced with starvation because he had been unemployed for so long.

Source: Agency