Pakistan's incoming government should convert the death sentence of Indian national Sarabjit Singh into life imprisonment on "humanitarian grounds" and ensure his early release, caretaker Human Rights Minister Ansar Burney said on Monday. President Pervez Musharraf had on March 19 deferred the hanging of Sarabjit, scheduled for April 1, by 30 days after receiving an appeal for clemency from the Indian government and the condemned man's family.
Earlier, Sarabjit's lawyer, Awais Sheikh, had stated in the court that he was not allowed to meet his client despite court orders. He had also filed a petition against the interior secretary of Punjab and superintendent of Kot Lakhpat jail.
Dalbir Kaur, sister of the condemned man, told the PM, 'I am a daughter of Punjab, please save my brother'.
Pakistan's Supreme Court on Monday adjourned till Wednesday the hearing of a review petition challenging the death sentence given to Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh for his alleged involvement in the bomb blasts.
Indian members of a bilateral judicial committee on prisoners have asked Pakistan to arrange a visit to the Lahore hospital where Indian death row prisoner Sarabjit Singh is being treated after a brutal assault.
Sarabjit Singh, currently in coma in a hospital in Lahore following a brutal assault, should be sent to India for better treatment, his wife on Sunday said in an emotional appeal to Pakistani authorities.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday reacted strongly to the attack on Indian national Sarabjit Singh, who is currently on death row in a Lahore jail, demanding that India should take strong note of it and warn Pakistan.
With tears in her eyes, Sarabjit's sister Dalbir Kaur said, "It is difficult for us to believe the Sarabjit Singh has not been released. How can I accept that my brother would not come home yet."
The execution of Indian national Sarabjit Singh, sentenced to death for his alleged involvement in bomb attacks in Pakistan, has not been postponed further, a presidential spokesman said on Saturday. The hanging of Sarabjit was deferred for 30 days by President Pervez Musharraf last month so that Pakistan's new government could review his case following an appeal for clemency from the Indian government.
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 lawyer of Sarabjit Singh, who is on death row in a Pakistani prison, on Saturday said he had received a death threat from the Taliban for pursuing the case of the Indian national.
Those responsible for the murder of Indian death row prisoner Sarabjit Singh will be brought to justice, Najam Sethi, the caretaker chief minister of Pakistan's Punjab province, Thursday assured Indian High Commissioner Sharat Sahbarwal.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday attacked the government for not taking concrete steps in Sarabjit Singh's case, saying the attack on the Indian prisoner inside a Pakistani jail reflects the "total failure" of India's foreign policy.
A Pakistani court gave permission to the sister of Indian national Sarabjit Singh, sentenced to death for alleged involvement in bomb blasts in Punjab province, to meet him at Kot Lakhpat Jail on Thursday.
The prime suspect in the attack on Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh had quarrelled with him a few days ago but Pakistani authorities at Kot Lakhpat Jail did not bother to take notice of the incident, official sources said Friday.
A three-member bench led by Justice Raja Fayyaz Ahmed dismissed Sarabjit's review petition on merit and upheld the death sentence awarded to him by an anti-terrorism court in 1991. The apex court gave its verdict after his counsel failed to appear in court.
Tape will have no effect on case: Sarabjit's lawyer
Over 1,400 prisoners went on hunger strike at Kot Lakhpat Jail in Lahore on Wednesday where Indian national Sarabjit Singh was killed, to protest the hostile attitude of the prison staff.
'The worst has happened to us. My brother could have returned to India, but our government did not take effective and strong initiatives.' Sarabjit Singh's sister tells Rediff.com's Onkar Singh.
Indian officials will collect Sarabjit's details and his version of his arrest and subsequent detention in\n1990.
Reports from Lahore said the officials had entered the prison where Sarabjit is lodged and the meeting is taking place. The meeting was expected to last for over an hour.\n\n
The mercy petition was rejected by the President after 'thorough consideration' as the allegations against him 'were proved and he was awarded capital punishment by court', official sources said. Sarabjit was sentenced to death for his alleged involvement in bomb blasts in Lahore and Multan that killed about 14 people. His family denies he was a spy as claimed by Pakistan and insists he accidentally strayed into Pakistani territory.
Indian national Sarabjit Singh, on death row in Pakistan, had an emotional reunion with his sister Dalbir Kaur after three years in a prison on Thursday.
Bharatiya Janata Party activists on Sunday held a protest demonstration at Attari along Indo-Pak border in Amritsar against the Pakistani government over the death of Sarabjit Singh in a Lahore hospital following a murderous assault on him.
The brutal assault on Sarabjit Singh, who is in "deep coma", was not possible without the involvement of jail authorities in Lahore and Pakistan should take immediate action against the perpetrators of the attack, his family said.
Kirpal Singh has also been given capital punishment.
Hanging Sarabjit Singh would be tantamount to murder of humanity as the Indian national had been convicted without any substantial evidence, Pakistan's leading human rights activist Ansar Burney has said. "I cannot allow the government to hang Sarabjit Singh on the basis that he is a non-Muslim and non-Pakistani, and because of pressure from extremist fundamentalist groups," he said. Pakistani authorities have apparently put off Sarabjit's hanging.
Indian death row prisoner Sarabjit Singh's counsel on Saturday appealed to Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari to either pardon him or commute his death sentence to life imprisonment, three days after the Supreme court dismissed his appeal against the capital punishment.
Pakistani authorities have suspended three senior prison officials over the fatal attack on Indian national Sarabjit Singh inside a jail in Lahore, a week after the brutal incident. The home secretary of Punjab province suspended the three officials from service on Friday for alleged negligence that led to the brutal attack on Sarabjit within Kot Lakhpat Jail.
"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 border village of Sarabjit Singh in Punjab erupted in joy on Thursday following his imminent release from Pakistan with his family calling it a 'relieving' moment and an act of kindness from President Asif Ali Zardari.
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.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday sought to know the Centre's stand on a plea for direction to it to take steps for release and repatriation of Indian death row convict Sarabjit Singh languishing in a Pakistani jail for the last 21 years for his alleged role in a terror act there.
Daughters of a Pakistani man killed in the 1991 bomb blast blamed on Sarabjit Singh, have threatened to fast unto death if the Indian prisoner, who is due to be hanged on May 1, is pardoned. The family of Singh, who was handed down capital punishment for his alleged involvement in bomb attacks in Lahore and Multan, has been camping in the country hoping to meet top leaders to seek clemency for him.
Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh's lawyer will file a fresh mercy petition before Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari on Wednesday, in the wake of the Supreme Court dismissing his appeal against capital punishment.Owais Sheikh, the new counsel for Sarabjit, said the petition seeking clemency for the Indian national will include a letter addressed to Zardari by the condemned man.
A Pakistani judge investigating the murder of Indian death row convict Sarabjit Singh has appealed to Indian nationals having information about the matter to file written submissions with relevant documents within seven days.
ndian prisoner Sarabjit Singh's sister on Friday said there was constant threat to her brother's life in Pakistan after the hanging of Afzal Guru and "suspecting attack" she had approached authorities but no action was taken.
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