Islamabad, March 5
The mercy petition of Indian citizen Sarabjit Singh, condemned to death in Pakistan for alleged involvement in bomb blasts in 1990, has been rejected by President Pervez Musharraf, a development that comes close on the heels of the release of his compatriot Kashmir Singh who walked to freedom after 35 years in jail.
The interior ministry today said Musharraf had rejected the mercy petition of Sarabjit, who Pakistan claims is Manjit Singh.
Sarabjit was arrested on charges of spying in 1990. The Lahore High Court sentenced him to death in 2003 for his alleged involvement in four bomb blasts in Lahore and Multan that killed about 14 people.
His family denies he was a spy as claimed by Pakistan and insists he accidentally strayed into Pakistani territory.
Pakistan’s Supreme Court rejected Sarabjit’s mercy petition in March, 2006, and upheld his death sentence.
Sarabjit’s Lahore-based lawyer Rana Abdul Hamid then submitted another mercy petition to the President through the interior ministry. But Musharraf recently turned this down, ministry officials said.
The officials said the President is the final authority for granting pardon and there was no other authority that could review Sarabjit’s case.
The development came even as Kashmir Singh, another Indian national sentenced to death on charges of spying, was reunited with his family yesterday after Musharraf pardoned him and set him free. Two years ago, Musharraf had said he
would take a decision about Sarabjit after looking into the legal aspects of his case. In his mercy petition sent to Musharraf, Sarabjit had sought his release on the grounds that he was innocent and wrongly implicated.
Sarabjit’s sister Dalbir Kaur has been spearheading a campaign in India for his release. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh too had taken up Sarabjit’s case during a meeting with Musharraf on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in 2005, and sought clemency for the prisoner.
Official sources said Sarabjit’s mercy petition was rejected by the President after “thorough consideration”. The allegations against Sarabjit “were proved and he was awarded capital punishment by court”, the sources said. The interior ministry has informed the Punjab government about the rejection.
— PTI
