India today hoped Pakistan would show “some leniency” towards Sarabjit Singh, who is to be hanged in Lahore on terror charges on April 1.
“It is a very sensitive issue. We can only request the Pakistan government to show some leniency,” junior foreign minister Anand Sharma told reporters, adding that India had “limited options”.
“We had earlier also conveyed the strong sentiments of our people and requested some clemency and reprieve for him. We hope that considering the humanitarian aspects, some leniency would be shown.”
President Pervez Musharraf had rejected the mercy petition of Sarabjit, who has spent 18 years in Pakistani jails for his alleged role in blasts that killed 14 people in that country.
Sarabjit’s lawyer Rana Abdul Hamid blamed New Delhi for “spoiling” his client’s chances as well as those of other “innocent” Indian prisoners in Pakistan.
“When Pakistan returned Kashmir Singh (an Indian who was on death row in Pakistan for 35 years) this month, it was on account of a goodwill gesture. The country expected a similar gesture regarding Pakistanis in Indian jails,” Hamid told The Telegraph over the phone from Lahore.
“Instead, the body of Khalid Mahmood was sent across the border. The incident has evoked a lot of sentiment in Pakistan.”
Mahmood had arrived in India in 2005 to watch an India-Pakistan cricket match but was arrested on spying charges. He died in a Delhi prison on February 12 this year but his family was informed only on March 4, the day Kashmir Singh was freed.
Hamid said that contrary to what many people thought, it was not Kashmir Singh’s later claim that he had indeed been spying on Pakistan that had hurt Sarabjit’s chances of winning a pardon.
“What has happened to Mahmood has spoilt the chances of innocent prisoners being released in both nations,” the lawyer said.
He added that there was still time to secure Sarabjit’s release.
“Both nations now need to sit down and discuss the fate of each other’s prisoners seriously and immediately. Sarabjit’s death warrant has been confirmed and there is hardly any time left for formalities. The jail authorities have begun making arrangements for his execution,” Hamid said.
Pakistan human rights minister Ansar Burney could not be contacted but late in the evening, The Telegraph received a text message from his office.
It said the minister had appealed to Musharraf to commute Sarabjit’s sentence to a life term on humanitarian grounds.
Posted By Staff Reporter: Gurgaon City News
in Gurgaon News
0 comments