After Kashmir Singh, leading Pakistani rights activist Ansar Burney has found another Indian on death row, Karpal Singh, languishing in a jail in Punjab province since 1992.
The execution of death warrants of these convicts have been deferred thrice so far due to delays by them in exhausting their legal remedies.
Dawn News channel quoted unnamed sources as saying that the Interior Ministry had recommended that Sarabjit's death sentence should not be commuted to life imprisonment as such a pardon would 'encourage subversive activities by Indian terrorists'. Sarabjit is accused of triggering bomb blasts in Lahore in 1990 and has been languishing in Pakistan prisons for nearly two decades.
Pakistani Law Minister Farooq Naek on Monday met Indian death-row prisoner Sarabjit Singh at the Lahore's Kot Lakhpath Jail to review his case following the Indian government's appeal for clemency for him.
In a move that could benefit Indian death row prisoner Sarabjit Singh, leading Pakistani rights activist Ansar Burney on Thursday asked President Pervez Musharraf to convert all death sentences in the country to life imprisonment. "This is an issue on which we have spoken several times during our meetings and an issue on which I have already sent several appeals," the former human rights minister said.
Pakistan on Friday stayed the execution of Sarabjit Singh. The hanging has been stayed till further notice.
Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh, who is on death row in a Pakistani jail, appears to be a case of mistaken identity, former Pakistani minister and United Nations Human Rights Council advisory committee member Ansar Burney said in Chandigarh on Friday.After collecting evidence in the shape of a video CD and copy of an FIR from the family members of Sarabjit, Burney said, "Prima facie it appears to be a case of mistaken identity.
Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf may accept New Delhi's request of clemency on humanitarian grounds for Sarabjit Singh, an Indian national on death row for carrying out multiple bomb explosions in the Islamic nation's Punjab province, in which 14 people were killed in 1990. A Pakistan's Foreign Office (FO) official said the President could consider pardoning Singh. "If that happens, it will be purely on humanitarian grounds," the Nation quoted him as saying.
Burney, who was the human rights minister in the interim government in Pakistan, was deported back from the Indira Gandhi International Airport by an Emirates Airways flight at Airways flight at around 2030 hours because of a "look-out" notice against him, they said. It was, however, not immediately clear who had issued the notice against him and in what connection.
During his visit to India, Burney is expected to meet senior officials, including the ministers for home affairs and external affairs, and human rights activists in an effort to secure the release of all Pakistani prisoners who had completed their sentences.
Amidst appeals for clemency for Sarabjit Singh by his family and human rights activists, hundreds of students in Lahore took to the streets demanding that the Indian death row prisoner not be pardoned. The demonstrators termed former Pakistani human rights minister Ansar Burney, who has sent a mercy petition on behalf of Sarabjit to President Pervez Mushrraf, an Indian agent. The students marched in the city on Friday and sought withdrawal of all moves to pardon Sarabjit.
Pakistan on Friday executed two more prisoners, convicted by anti-terrorism courts.
Prisoners facing death row in Pakistan, including Indian national Sarabjit Singh, are likely to get a reprieve with the government "actively considering" a proposal to convert capital punishment into life imprisonment. "A summary prepared by the interior ministry is at an advanced stage and a final decision is expected within a few days," a source was quoted as saying by the Dawn newspaper.
Burney, who is a member of the Advisory Committee of the UN Human Rights Council, said that 'with so many facts in favour of Sarabjit and so little to justify the death sentence awarded to him, it seemed Sarabjit's biggest crime may have been his Indian nationality as no unbiased court would ever sentence a man to death in such a weak case'.
The kin of Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh, who is on death row in a Lahore jail, on Sunday expressed gratitude to the Pakistan government for proposing to President Pervez Musharraf that all death sentences be commuted to life imprisonment.The family will be making an application in the Pakistan High Commission on Monday for the permission to meet Sarabjit in jail.Kaur said former Pakistan Human Rights Minister Ansar Burney has promised that he will appeal to Musharraf.
India has taken all steps that are essential to secure the release of Sarabjit Singh, who is on death row in Pakistan, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told a delegation of leaders from Punjab. "A delegation of leaders from Punjab met the Prime Minister. The issue of Sarabjit Singh was prominently raised by the delegation and they apprised him of the unanimous resolution passed by the Assembly for his release," AICC spokesman Manish Tewari told reporters.
Stating that the change of government in the neighbouring country had strengthened their hope for the release of Sarbajit, Sarabjit Singh's sister Dalbir Kaur said she would go to the Pakistan High Commission to apply for the visas immediately after obtaining the passports.
The Supreme Court on Friday stayed the death sentence of Mohammed Shoeb Kasam Ghansar, a death row convict in the 1993 Mumbai serial bomb blasts case.
The fourth convict, Pawan Gupta, has not filed a curative petition, which he still can if he chooses.
A bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice Anu Malhotra said the government was best placed to take a decision and safeguard the life and liberty of its citizens.
The deportation of Pakistani human rights activist Ansar Burney from India could delay the release of Indian death row prisoner Sarabjit Singh in Lahore, Singh's sister said on Saturday and asked Indian politicians not to play "dirty politics".
"I will study his case. As far as pardoning him is concerned, a decision will be made in line with the law and the constitution. The final decision will be made by the Prime Minister and the President," said Naek, whose first meeting with Sarabjit at Lahore's Kot Lakhpat jail on Monday has sparked fresh hopes of the Indian's release.
Pakistan Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani has indicated that his government would consider if Indian death row prisoner Sarabjit Singh could be pardoned. He said Sarabjit's case was being reviewed by the ministries of Foreign Affairs, Interior, Law-Justice and Human Rights. Gilani added that he has advised President Pervez Musharraf to stop the execution of Sarabjit. Sarabjit, accused of terror attacks in Lahore in 1990, has been languishing in Pakistani prisons.
Sarabjit's family brought with them special food that he was fond of. Dalbir Kaur was carrying 18 'rakhis' one for each year that her brother has been away from India. Ahead of the meeting, prison officials said Sarabjit's kin would be allowed to spend at least an hour with him. They pointed out that the prison superintendent had the discretion to allow them to spend an additional 30 minutes.
Anand Mohan, Arun Kumar and Akhlaq Ahmed had filed petitions in the High Court because of denial of basic amenities and permission to meet close relatives.
The Delhi government Wednesday informed the high court that the execution of the death row convicts in the Nirbhaya gang rape and murder case will not take place on January 22 as a mercy plea has been filed by one of them. The four convicts -- Vinay Sharma, 26, Mukesh Kumar, 32, Akshay Kumar Singh, 31 and Pawan Gupta, 25 -- were to be hanged on January 22 at 7 am in Tihar jail. A Delhi court had issued their death warrants on January 7.
Kashmir Singh will be released from Lahore's Central Jail and taken by road to the Wagah border by Pakistan's caretaker human rights minister Ansar Burney, where he will be reunited with families and well-wishers.
The four death row convicts are Mukesh, Vinay Sharma, Akshay Singh and Pawan Gupta.
Special Trial Tribunal-3 Judge Sayeed Ahmed pronounced the verdict in presence of seven of the accused. One of the death row convict is on the run.
The Centre on Tuesday opposed in the Supreme Court the plea of convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case seeking the commutation of their death sentences to life imprisonment.
"When I tied Rakhi on his arm, he was emotionally charged and said that he had nothing to give me. First half an hour was spent in crying. Then he told us how a fake case had been foisted on him by the Pakistani police and a judgment was delivered with the help of purchased witnesses. He hoped that we would meet again soon at his village," Sarabjit's sister Dalbir Kaur told rediff.com, hours after she learnt that Pakistan government had decided to commute his death sentence.
"When I come back again, I hope you will send Sarabjit back with me. And we will all celebrate at this same spot," Dalbir Kaur, the condemned man's sister, told media persons at the Wagah border post as the family left for India. "My brother is a victim of bad luck," she said.
The family of Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh, who is on death row in Pakistan, is all set to travel to that country to meet him after being granted visas by the Pakistani High Commission on Wednesday.The visas have been granted for a duration of one month to five members of the family and is valid from today, Sarabjit's sister Dalbir Kaur said.Sarabjit's wife, his two daughters, along with Dalbir and her husband, would leave for Pakistan on Sunday.
"He (Sarabjit) is a simpleton, who had unknowingly strayed into Pakistan. I have even stayed with him in the same jail," said Mehboob Elahi, former Indian prisoner in Pakistan who was released from the prison in 1996. "I have stayed with him in the same cell at Gujranwala jail. Not for a day or two, but at least a year and a half," 52-year-old Elahi told television channel NDTV.
The Maharashtra authorities would go ahead with hanging of Yakub Memon, the sole death row convict of 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case, on July 30 as scheduled, highly placed sources in Mumbai said on Thursday.
Memon, the only convict on death row in the case, handed over his mercy petition to the authorities of the Central Prison in Nagpur.
Nirbhaya's mother Asha Devi said even the court understands that the convicts are filing pleas one after the other just to delay the hanging.
He said India has been maintaining that terror and talks cannot go together, but talks on terror can definitely go ahead.
'My director has put the ugliest face of a crime on screen.'
The veracity of the video which was released by the Pakistan foreign office could not be ascertained.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances