LAHORE: Family and friends of a Pakistani student left comatose following a traffic accident in the US have raised thousands of dollars for his treatment and launched an online petition to extend his visa.
Muhammad Shahzaib Bajwa, 20, has been in a coma since last November when a deer struck a car carrying him and friends from Minneapolis back to University of Wisconsin-Superior where he was spending a semester.
His brother Shahraiz, who has gone to the US to help, said the insurance company was pressing the family to sign off on returning Shahzaib to Pakistan once his visa runs out on February 28, threatening not to pay evacuation costs if the family refuses. “My mother is not going to sign because that would be like killing her son with her own hand,” he said, adding he feared his brother would not survive the 24-hour flight.
By yesterday afternoon, an online appeal (http://www.gofundme.com/6t9bq8) created by Shahraiz to pay for his brother’s medical costs and apply for a visa extension had raised more than $19,000 of its $100,000 target. A change.org petition created by a friend that calls on the US to extend his visa has gathered over 1,000 signatures, many from Americans. A foreign ministry spokesman said Pakistani officials had been in touch with the State Department and were told extending Shahzaib’s visa was “not a problem” if the family could raise funds for him. “The matter has been taken up with the State Department. Essentially visa extension is not a problem,” Tasnim Aslam said, adding his future course of care was now “up to the family”. AFP
