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Sarabjit’s sister catches Kasuri by surprise in hotel, pleads for mercy
Rajeev Sharma
Tribune News Service
Dalbir Kaur |
New Delhi, November 26
Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri, who is here on a private visit, was surprised this evening as he was stopped in his hotel lobby by Ms Dalbir Kaur, sister of Sarabjit Singh, the Indian currently on death row in a Pakistani jail. First, Mr Kasuri did not understand anything when Ms Kaur stopped him in the lobby of Hotel Taj. After some time when Ms Kaur was able to convey her identity to Mr Kasuri, she pleaded with him to impress upon his government to give clemency to her brother. Sarabjit Singh has been sentenced to death in Pakistan on charges of carrying out bomb blasts in 1990 at the behest of the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW). Mr Kasuri told Ms Kaur that he had nothing to do with the matter as it came in the domain of Pakistan’s Ministries of Law and Interior. He, however, asked an official of Pakistan’s High Commission to take the details from Ms Kaur and send these to the ministries. In April this year, Ms Kaur had released a letter she had received from her brother in which Sarabjit Singh had written:"I never gave any confessional statements to any of the investigating agencies of Pakistan with regard to
allegations imposed by the Pakistan police. I have been unlawfully framed in fake bomb blasts cases in spite of the facts. I have nothing to do with the allegations imposed on me by the Pakistan police...Here I request you (Dalbir) to come forward to apprise the Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf about my innocence. The Pakistan police has slapped fake cases on me in the name of Manjit Singh. Everybody in India knows that my real name is Sarabjit Singh, but the Pakistan police was not willing to listen to me when I was arrested by them in 1990.”Gen Musharraf has gone on record telling then External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh in October last year in Rawalpindi that he would take note of the appeals for a humanitarian view of the case of Sarabjit Singh. Meanwhile, Mr Kasuri met former Prime Minister I.K. Gujral and former External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha. He told Mr Sinha that his country was “eagerly awaiting” a visit by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. He said whenever there was a high-profile visit, the bureaucracy in both countries worked hard to make it a success. He noted that Dr Manmohan Singh’s visit to Pakistan could provide an opportunity for the two countries to work on resolving key issues like Kashmir, Siachen and terrorism. “All aspects of all issues like Kashmir, Siachen or the anti-terror mechanism will come up for discussion and there will be an earnest effort to find a resolution to all these.” Mr Kasuri said he told Mr Sinha that there was a need to maintain the momentum of the peace process “regardless of whether one is in power or is in the opposition”. External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee is hosting a private lunch for Mr Kasuri at Hyderabad House tomorrow. Mr Kasuri will meet Mr Natwar Singh. He leaves for Pakistan on the November 28 morning after attending the marriage reception of Union Minister Mani Shankar Aiyer’s daughter.
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