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Sarabjit’s hanging delayed by a month; India appeals for his release |
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Islamabad has said Sarabjit Singh, an Indian national in Pakistan custody, who has been accused of spying and bomb blasts, will be hanged on April 30 and not on April 1, the date of his hanging fixed earlier. After President Musharraf rejected his mercy petition and death warrants were issued to the Kot Lakhpat Jail in Lahore, orders were issued to execute him on April 1. It has now been put off by a month after the decision triggered strong appeals both from the Indian Government and Sarabjit Singh’s family to spare his life.
He was condemned to death for his alleged involvement in four bomb blasts in Pakistan in 1990 and the decision to hang him comes amid strong criticism of President Musharraf who pardoned another Indian national, Kashmir Singh who on his return to India publicly admitted that he was a spy. The death warrants against Sarabjit were also served days after a Pakistani national, Khalid Mehmood, died while in Indian custody.
Holding out a glimmer of hope for Sarabjit Islamabad put off his scheduled hanging by a month in the wake of India’s as well as his family’s fervent pleas for clemency for him on humanitarian grounds.
The Pakistan Foreign Office conveyed to the Indian High Commission in Islamabad that the President has stayed his execution till April 30. External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee confirmed in Parliament on March 20 that his execution has been stayed for a month, promising that the Government would continue efforts to save the Indian prisoner’s life. There are now signs that the Pakistan government might be softening its stand on the matter and is examining the option of turning the execution into a life sentence.
For two days the issue dominated the discussion in the Indian Parliament with members cutting across party lines urging the Government to take a more pre-active stand and take up the matter directly with the Pakistan government. Members on March 19 congratulated the Government for getting the execution stayed.
Sarabjit has been accused of spying and carrying out bomb blasts in Lahore and Faizalabad in which 12 people were killed and dozens injured. He was arrested in 1990 near the Indo-Pak border. India has said in the clemency plea that an impression would be created that Sarabjit was being executed in retaliation for the death by natural causes of a Pakistani prisoner in India and that would vitiate the positive atmosphere between the two countries. His hanging would also step up pressure on the Indian Government to reject the mercy petition of Afzal Guru, convicted in the case of an attack on Parliament and sentenced to death. His mercy petition is pending with the President.
Along with the Government, Sarabjit Singh’s family especially his sister Dalbir Kaur has vowed to fight for his release. She has sent a written appeal for clemency to Musharraf and requested permission to visit her brother in Pakistan. India has also sought consular access to him.
The matter rocked both Houses of Parliament on March 17. In the Rajya Sabha, members joined hands to seek a House resolution against the death sentence even as members urged the Government to take up the matter with the newly elected Government in Islamabad. The request for a House resolution conveying the sentiments of the House was however politely turn down by the Government. Making a suo motu statement in the Lok Sabha, External Affairs Minister, Pranab Mukherjee cited the institutional mechanism put in place by the two countries for dealing with the plight of prisoners and appealed to the Government of Pakistan to grant Sarabjit Singh clemency on humanitarian grounds. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in reply to a letter from Punjab Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal, told him that the Government was making all efforts to seek a reprieve for Sarabjit. Minister of State for External Affairs Anand Sharma said India had limited options in this case and could only request Pakistan to consider the human aspect.
Dalbir Kaur has stepped up efforts to enlist the support of the political class in her campaign to secure her brother’s release. As part of this exercise, she met UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi on March 17-18 and said she had been assured help in her endeavor. She also met Pranab Mukherjee. Sarabjit’s sister has, however, said that she would not like the repatriation of her brother from Pakistan if it means India has to release a hardcore terrorist in exchange. In a bold statement she said she and Sarabjit’s two daughters would never like Sarabjit to be exchanged with a hardcore terrorist lodged in an Indian jail. Separately, the Minister of State for Home, Sriprakash Jaiswal has firmly ruled out release of any Pakistani prisoner in exchange for Sarabjit Singh’s release. The human rights activist from Pakistan, Asma Jahangir,who was on an 18-day visit to India has also appealed for a reprieve for Sarabjit Singh.
Incidentally, the decision to hang Sarabjit Singh comes soon after the Pakistani authorities expressed outrage over the death of a Pakistani, Khalid Mehmud, in an Indian jail. His body sent via the Wagah border last month, a month after he reportedly died in a Gurgaon jail. Pakistani media reported that he was tortured in jail and drew a contrast between Mehmood’s fate and the rescue and alleged Indian spy Kashmir Singh from death row in Pakistan.
Pakistan said it was “deeply shocked and angered” at his death and asked for an explanation of the charges under which he was held and the circumstances of his death. Its Foreign Office spokesman said: “Torture and the inhumane treatment meted out to him [Khalid Mehmud] in custody merit strong condemnation”. The incident, he said, dampened the goodwill generated by the release of Kashmir Singh.
India denied the charge that Khalid Mehmud was tortured. New Delhi said he was arrested after he had spent over a year in the country without a visa. He was a cricket fan and had reportedly come to India to watch a cricket match. He died of illness at the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi on Feb 12 and “no torture was inflicted on him”, said the Indian High Commission in a statement in Islamabad.
Political observers say it is regrettable that the deeper malaise underlying the context of Indo-Pak relations has come to the surface again. There is a dreary sense of déjà vu in the acrimonious exchanges in this regard. They say given the strenuous efforts being made to build greater bilateral goodwill, these atavistic urges must be reined in by the leadership in Islamabad and New Delhi.
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