New Delhi, April 6
Sarabjit Singh's hope to escape the gallows for his alleged involvement in the serial bomb blasts in Lahore seems to be becoming grimmer. The Pakistan Law Minister today ruled out the chances of Sarabjit's mercy petition to President Pervez Musharraf succeeding in view of the country's strict laws on capital punishment.
Neither his embracing Islam, nor a mercy petition would make much difference as the law on capital punishment makes it clear that the "President cannot interfere" in matters like this, Law Minister Muhammad Wasi Zafar said.
Mr Zafar, who was here to attend the annual session of the Asian African Legal Consultative Organisation, expressed dismay over the Indian media "blowing the issue out of proportion" without understanding the legal position.
He said Section 402 of the Pakistan penal code stated that the President did not have the power to interfere in such cases. If at all anyone could pardon an accused, it was only the legal heir of the victim and there was no precedent in Pakistan of a President forgiving an accused facing the death sentence. "Under the law the President is in fact helpless," he explained.
On the question of the reported conversion of Sarabjit, the minister clarified that Pakistani laws did not discriminate between people of different faiths. If a person was found guilty of a heinous crime by the court of law, he had to face the execution, he said.
He was not happy with the way the Indian media had been dealing with Sarabjit's matter, saying that he was not able to understand why it was being projected as a diplomatic issue between the two countries. "It is a simple criminal case that whoever kills, will face the death penalty as per the law of the land," he said.
The power to pardon had been solely given to the victim who suffered at the hands of the accused even in simple cases of hurt, he said.
