Sarabjit faces death for his alleged involvement in bomb blasts in Pakistan in 1990.

In a suo motu statement in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee said the government had not received any formal intimation from the Pakistan government about the reported rejection of Sarabjit Singh’s mercy petition. He said the Indian High Commission had sought details from the Pakistan government after taking note of media reports that a black warrant had been issued against Sarabjit and the sentence would be carried out on April 1.

The minister further said after his visit to Pakistan in January last year, both governments had put in place certain institutional arrangements, including a new Agreement on Consular Access and a new judicial committee, to facilitate the resolution of consular issues.

Apprising the members of the government’s efforts in persuading Pakistan to take a sympathetic and humanitarian view of Sarabjit Singh’s case, the minister said, “The Supreme Court of Pakistan, in a judgement on August 18, 2005, had upheld the award of death sentence to Sarabjit Singh for causing explosions at various places in Pakistan. At our instance, consular access was provided to Sarabjit Singh by the Pakistan government for the first time on August 30, 2005.

“Thereafter, his national status was confirmed. A review petition against the death sentence was also filed in the Supreme Court of Pakistan. The petition was dismissed by the Supreme Court in March 2006. A mercy petition was thereafter filed with President Pervez Muhsarraf, which, now, according to news reports, has been turned down.”

Members of Parliament belonging to the Left parties and the Samajdwadi Party lent their voice to the matter raised by Shiromani Akali Dal member Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa. Dhindsa asked the government to spell out the steps it was taking to secure the release of Sarabjit Singh.

Parliamentary affairs minister Priyaranjan Dasmunsi said the government was exploring ways and means to take up the matter at the highest level. He said there were no two opinions between the House and the government on the issue.

Rejecting the demand for a resolution on the matter in the Lok Sabha, Dasmunsi said he had not heard of a resolution on the judgement of a court. “We have been negotiating the matter at the highest office step by step since 2005.”

Dissuading fellow MPs from binding the government for passing some kind of a resolution on the matter, Dasmunsi said this would make things difficult for the government.

SP member Ramji Lal Suman drew the attention of the House to a resolution on the matter by the Punjab Assembly and said the Lok Sabha pass a resolution as well. He said Sarabjit Singh’s daughters had threatened to commit suicide if their father was hanged. He urged the House to sense the gravity of the matter.

CPM member Varkala Radhakrishnan appealed to the newly elected MPs of Pakistan to take up the issue as a “gesture of goodwill for the people of India and put pressure on the dictatorial chief of Pakistan’s state apparatus to issue clemency orders. “Let the new government of Pakistan begin a new

process. India and Pakistan should live in peace, not in confrontation.”

The CPM member also appealed to the external affairs minister to take firm steps to ensure that an innocent man was not hanged.

CPM chief whip in the Lok Sabha Rup Chand Pal also asked the government to take a serious note of the issue that pertained to the sentiments of the citizens.

BJP’s deputy leader in the House V.K. Malhotra said Sarabjit was innocent and was a victim of mistaken identity.