Bhikhiwind, August 20
The sacred festival of Rakhi turned out to be the ‘blackest day’ for Sarbjit Singh (40), lodged in Kotpat Rai Jail, Lahore, and his family members in the border town here as the Supreme Court of Pakistan upheld his death sentence on this day. He will be the first Indian to be hanged in Pakistan.

His (Sarbjit Singh’s) minor daughters are Swapandip Kaur and Sapna. The latter has not seen the face of her father as she was born after he was arrested in Pakistan 15 years ago. They have appealed to Gen Pervez Musharraf for granting clemency to their father as he was sentenced on the basis of ‘mistaken identity’.

For intelligence agencies of Pakistan, Sarbjit Singh is Manjit Singh who had carried out a series of bomb blasts in 1990 there. Ms Dalbir Kaur, sister of Sarbjit Singh, alleged that the Government of India had not taken up the case of her brother with the government of Pakistan to prove his innocence.

Pakistan’s Supreme Court had upheld the death sentence. The prosecution claimed he was an agent of India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) and involved in five cases of bomb blasts in the country. A two-member bench comprising Justice Hamid Ali Mirza and Justice Muhammad Nawaz Abbasi had dismissed the appeals filed by him.

An anti-terrorism court of Punjab had awarded him death sentence on five counts which was upheld by the Lahore High Court. He then filed an appeal in the Supreme Court. Sarbjit Singh was arrested by Pakistan security forces at Kasur border on August 30, 1990 when he was reportedly leaving Pakistan after having carried out the bomb blasts.

All hopes of getting fresh lease of life for Sarbjit Singh were shattered when his family heard the news yesterday evening. Ms Dalbir Kaur had been sending rakhis to her brother every year.

Earlier , Mr Sheetal Das Kaler, secretary, South Asian Human Rights Group, Canada Chapter, was the first one to meet Sarbjit Singh in Pakistan’s jail, a couple of years ago. His association had collected huge funds in Canada to file review petition in the Supreme Court of Pakistan. The family members allege that Sarbjit Singh was arrested in a drunken state from the Kasoron border outpost by the Pakistan Rangers. Ms Dalbir Kaur, sister of Sarbjit, had persistently tried to prove her brother’s identity. She had sent every document required for his identification to Pakistan, but to no avail. She would also send him clothes and sweets in the past.