A Pakistani lawyer has filed a petition in the Lahore high court seeking a thorough investigation into the death of an Indian prisoner who was allegedly assaulted by prison staffers at Kot Lakhpat Jail.
A case of mistaken identity turned a stirring occasion into an international embarrassment for the Pakistan government when the tardy release of an Indian national Surjeet Singh was wrongly reported by Pakistani media as the release of Sarabjit Singh, an alleged Indian spy who is languishing in a Pakistani jail for over two decades now despite repeated calls for his release by the Indian government.
Inciting the public to raise funds for jihad (holy war) is not allowed to individuals or any organisation in Pakistan and is considered as treason, the Lahore high court has ruled even as it dismissed appeals of two terrorists convicted for raising funds for a proscribed terror outfit.
Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh, who is on a death row for alleged involvement in a string of bombings in Pakistani cities in 1990, has signed a fresh mercy petition to be sent to President Asif Ali Zardari.
Sarabjit, 49, is in the Intensive Care Unit of the state-run Jinnah Hospital in Lahore, where he was admitted on Friday after being brutally beaten with blades and pieces of a ghee tin by at least six other prisoners within his barrack at the Kot Lakhpat Jail.
Indian national Sarabjit Singh, who is in a deep coma, has been put on ventilator support after being assaulted by a group of prisoners in a Pakistani jail. Sarabjit, 49, is in an Intensive Care Unit of the state-run Jinnah Hospital in Lahore. He was admitted to the hospital on Friday after being brutally beaten by at least six other prisoners within his barrack at the Kot Lakhpat Jail.
A Pakistani court on Friday remanded Malik Ishaq, chief of the banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, to judicial custody for 14 days, a day after he was arrested on his return to the country from Saudi Arabia.
The sister of Sarabjit Singh, the Indian death-row convict languishing in a Pakistani jail, on Wednesday knocked the doors of Congress chief Sonia Gandhi seeking her intervention for his release.
After spending 31 years in Pakistani jail, Indian prisoner Surjeet Singh on Thursday walked free and crossed over to his home country to an emotional reunion with his family.
A Pakistani court adjourned till March 16 a case against suspected CIA contractor Raymond Davis, arrested for gunning down two men in January, after defence lawyers sought more time to study documents filed by the prosecution.
Indian national Surjeet Singh, who has been languishing in Kot Lakhpat Jail in this eastern Pakistani city for over 30 years, is expected to be freed within three months, his lawyer has said.
Surjeet Singh, who was released from a Pakistani jail after 31 years, today said Indian death row convict Sarabjit Singh is fine and hoped that he is freed soon.
Indian prisoner Surjeet Singh, who has served a life term in Pakistan following his arrest on charges of spying in the 1980s, was on Thursday freed from the Kot Lakhpat jail in Lahore and sent to the Wagah border crossing to be repatriated
The wife and daughters of Sarabjit Singh, who has been languishing in the jail in Lahore for over 20 years, have brought their struggle to secure his release to New Delhi. Rediff.com's Priyanka catches up with them at Jantar Mantar
Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah said Davis was charged with murder on Wednesday but then immediately pardoned by the families of the victims in exchange for compensation or "blood money", as is permitted under Pakistani law.
This is the fifth mercy petition from Sarabjit, who was sentenced to death for alleged involvement in a string of bombings in Punjab in 1990 that killed 14 people.
United States national Raymond Davis, an alleged Central Intelligence Agency contractor who was arrested for gunning down two men in Lahore, on Friday insisted he acted in self defence and had diplomatic immunity during a hearing into murder charges against him at a Pakistani court, which adjourned the trial till March 3.
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.
Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan chief Saad Hussain Rizvi was on Thursday released from the jail, weeks after Prime Minister Imran Khan-led government entered into a 'secret agreement' with the radical Islamist party which was involved in recent deadly clashes with the police.
An Indian national imprisoned in a jail in Lahore has died of tuberculosis, Pakistan authorities said on Thursday, after leading human rights activist Ansar Burney claimed that the death had occurred in 'suspicious' circumstances. Mushtaq Awan, the Superintendent of Kot Lakhpat jail, said Indian national Suraj Singh was mentally deranged and had died on Wednesday of tuberculosis. Singh, a resident of Jaipur, was arrested a year ago.
In a bizarre development, Pakistan presidential spokesperson Major General (retired) Rashid Qureshi on Thursday said that no mercy petition of Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh is pending with President Pervez Musharraf. Sarabjit has spent 18 years on death row in Pakistan, after being convicted for his alleged involvement in four bomb attacks in Punjab province in 1990, which killed 14 people.Sarabjit's execution was deferred for 30 days by President Pervez Musharraf.
The case of Raymond Davis, the American held in Pakistan for double murder, would put any espionage thriller to shame. Rediff.com tries to answer some of the many questions about the curious case of Davis.
According to the short order, Sharif will have to submit two surety bonds worth Rs 10 million each for his release in the case.
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.
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 cases have been registered in Lahore, Gujranwala and Multan for collection of funds for terror financing through assets/properties made and held in the names of Trusts/ Non Profit Organisations including Al-Anfaal Trust, Dawatul Irshad Trust and Muaz Bin Jabal Trust.
The statement was made after Dalbir Kaur, sister of Sarabjit Singh met Rahul Gandhi on Monday and sought the government's intervention to save the life of her brother. "We appeal to the government of Pakistan to treat Sarabjit Singh's case with clemency on humanitarian grounds," Mukherjee said in his one-page statement read out by him soon after Question Hour in Parliament.
Das was taken from Lahore's Kot Lakhpat Jail and handed over by Pakistani officials to their Indian counterparts at the Wagah land border.
Sharif, 70, has been in London since November last year after the Lahore High Court granted him permission to go abroad for four weeks for treatment.
Anti-terrorism court Lahore Judge Natasha Nasim also handed down two-year rigorous imprisonment each to 72 accused persons, including nine juveniles.
Indian national Ram Prakash, freed after serving a 10-year prison term in Pakistan on charges of spying, was on Tuesday sent back to jail after Indian authorities at the Wagah border refused to accept him for 'not possessing valid travel documents'.According to Prakash, the Indian High Commission in Islamabad did not send his documents to the Indian authorities at Wagah. The High Commission claimed that they had not been officially informed by Pakistani authorities.
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.
Two officials from Indian High Commission can meet him on Tuesday.
Indian national Ram Prakash, freed last week after serving a 10-year prison term in Pakistan on charges of spying, was on Monday repatriated following a mix-up that delayed his return home.
"I still remember the day I went to Kot Lakhpat jail in Lahore and Kashmir Singh told me his love story and how he got married to Paramjit Kaur. After listening to him, I was so moved I decided to reunite the pair," Burney told reporters on Wednesday. He said the prisoner was weeping uncontrollably within the jail walls and "he told me he was not worried about his life, but always thought about his wife."
Pakistani security agencies on Thursday arrested two suspects involved in the car bomb blast outside the house of the 2008 Mumbai terror attack mastermind and chief of the banned Jamat-ud-Dawah (JuD) Hafiz Saeed, an official said.
Yadav is languishing in Pakistan government's custody since March 23, 1994.
"Whether it is in Afghanistan or against India, groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) continue to operate with both impunity and encouragement," India's external affairs minister S Jaishankar said
Pakistan had released them as a goodwill gesture a The release of prisoners from the Kot Lakhpat Jail in Lahore coincided with Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amrinder Singh's four-day visit to Pakistan.