M A I N   N E W S

Indian diplomats meet Sarabjit, say he is in good health

Islamabad, August 30
Sarabjit Singh, facing death in Pakistan, today gave his personal details, circumstances under which he was arrested, tried and convicted, to two Indian High Commission officials who met him at the high-security Kot Lakhpath jail near Lahore.

Sarabjit (41), who Pakistan claims is an alleged Indian spy Manjit Singh and blames him for the 1990 blasts in Lahore and Multan, is in good health and gave details of his parents, children and other members of his family during an hour-long meeting with Mr Deepak Kaul, Consular Visa, and Attache Visa S.C. Sharma. His death sentence was upheld by Pakistan Supreme court recently.

“We had an hour-long meeting with Sarabjit during which Mr he gave us a number of his personal details as well as his side of the story,” Mr Kaul told PTI over phone after the meeting.

He also gave a message to be sent to his family, which Mr Kaul declined to reveal.

Sarabjit, whose family members in Punjab have threatened to kill themselves if Pakistan carried out the death sentence, gave details of the circumstances under which he was caught, tried and convicted, Mr Kaul said.

The tall, lanky and rural man appeared quite intelligent and fairly knowledgeable and spoke both English and Hindi well, he said.

About the confusion over his name and identity, Mr Kaul said he identified himself as Sarabjit Singh and not Manjit Singh as claimed by Pakistan.

During the meeting, Sarabjit was photographed to enable his family to identify him back home. The details would be sent to India for verification after which his national status would be established before further action was taken, Mr Kaul said.

India has also sought consular access for 65 other Indian prisoners languishing in Pakistani jails.

India was granted consular access to Sarabjit after it made a second request following Pakistan Supreme Court verdict on August 18 upholding the death sentence given to him by lower courts.

Pakistan claimed he was given a fair trial as Sarabjit was defended by a lawyer engaged by a Canadian human rights group.

His family said that Sarabjit, who lived close to border, had inadvertently crossed the border.

According to noted Pakistani human rights activist, Asma Jahangir, Sarabjit was convicted, based on his confessional statement, which he subsequently denied saying that was coerced to give it.

His lawyer, Rana Abdul Hameed, planned to file a review petition in Pakistan Supreme Court after the apex court delivered a detailed judgement on its recent verdict. If review petition failed, then Sarabjit could file a mercy petition to President Pervez Musharraf.

As the release Sarabjit campaign picked up in India, Pakistan-based militant groups also sought the release of Muhammad Afzal Guru, sentenced to death for the attack on the Indian Parliament.

Hardliners in Pakistan’s Jamat-e-Islami party also said that no clemency should be granted to Sarabjit as Musharraf had not pardoned a Pakistani soldier who was recently hanged for his involvement in the failed bid on the life of the President.