April 27, 2008
Sarabjit's Execution can Cast Shadow
on India-Pakistan Ties By Pranay Sharma
The possibility of an Indian prisoner being put to death in Pakistan
could hardly be the ideal way to restart peace talks. But that is
exactly how things may stand, unless the Pakistan government
rethinks its decision and alters the death sentence on Sarabjit
Singh, who is to be hanged in Lahore May 1.
Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee is scheduled to
meet his Pakistani counterpart Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi in
Islamabad May 21. If Sarabjit's death sentence is carried out, the
meeting between the two leaders would take place a mere three weeks
of the incident. It is not a scenario that Mukherjee or others in
the Indian foreign policy establishment look forward to.
Despite minor hiccups, India and Pakistan have stuck to the
talks-table for the past four years. There is an agreement between
the two sides now to resolve all their differences - including the
one on Kashmir - through dialogue. A day before the Mukherjee-Qureshi
meeting, the foreign secretaries of the two countries are scheduled
to hold talks to review the progress made so far in the fourth round
of the "Composite Dialogue", an integral part of the peace process.
A mood is fast building up in India to get Sarabjit released. He has
been accused of masterminding a series of bomb blasts in Lahore and
other cities of Pakistan in 1990 that led to the death of a large
number of people. For the past 17 years he has been lodged in a
Lahore jail. The Pakistani courts have found him guilty and have
pronounced the death sentence on him.
A number of appeals have been made to the Pakistani government in
the past by various people in India seeking clemency for Sarabjit.
That has not been granted so far. But neither has Pakistan carried
out the death penalty on the Indian prisoner.
Mukherjee has also made an appeal for clemency. He requested the
Pakistan government to release the "unfortunate man" who has spent
the last 17 years in prison in Pakistan. There were also indications
that Pakistan might put off his sentence by yet another month. But a
spokesman of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf's office has made
it clear that Islamabad is not in a mood to postpone the date of
carrying out Sarabjit's death sentence any further.
To many in India, the latest Pakistani response could be seen as a
snub to Mukherjee. At the best of times, India-Pakistan relations
are fraught with pressures from the domestic audience. At a time
when speculations are rife in India about year-end elections, it
only gets worse. It is not easy for Pakistan. A new government has
just come in and announcing the next round of the Composite Dialogue
could well be its first major foreign policy decision. But the
challenge before the leadership in both the countries is to de-link
the Sarabjit issue from the rest of the issues on bilateral
relations.
Opinion in India is divided on whether the government should allow
the case of an Indian prisoner, found guilty of terrorist activities
by a Pakistani court, to come in the way of its policy to improve
relations with Pakistan. Many in the government, as well as in the
main opposition party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), don't want
the government to meddle. They feel it would compromise India's
stand on fighting terrorism. Some Pakistani nationals are also in
Indian jails, including those who have been tried and found guilty
of terrorist activities by Indian courts.
If India seeks clemency for Sarabjit, could it ignore the plea of
others and go ahead and put the Pakistani nationals in its custody
to death?
Some recent incidents have only made the situation worse. Last month
India handed over the body of a Pakistani prisoner to the Pakistan
government. The Pakistani authorities claim the body bore marks of
injury indicating that he had been tortured in the Indian prison.
The other was over the release of Kashmir Singh. The Indian national
was found in a Pakistani jail by former human rights minister Ansar
Burney. He was moved by Singh's tale of woe after he came to know
that the Indian prisoner has been in the Pakistani prison for the
past 35 years. His release became a big media event as he was given
a warm send off by the Pakistanis at the Wagah border. But within
days of reaching India, he was reported to have told sections of the
Indian media that he was indeed a spy and not an innocent man as he
had claimed earlier to the Pakistanis.
Pakistani officials in New Delhi argue that if Sarabjit were to be
released, many in Pakistan would also raise questions on why the
government was yielding to Indian pressure. While they acknowledge
the growing opinion in India to seek clemency for Sarabjit, they
feel the Indian government should rise above petty domestic politics
and respect the decision taken by the Pakistani judiciary.
But it would be easier said than done and indications suggest that
the ruling United Progressive Alliance government in New Delhi would
not be able to ignore the public mood in India on the Sarabjit case.
For the Congress-led coalition government, the situation has been
complicated further since Bharatiya Janata Party leader L.K.Advani
has also decided to appeal to the Pakistani government to release
Sarabjit.
The Pakistan People's Party-led coalition government in Islamabad
recently submitted a report urging Musharraf to commute all death
penalties to life imprisonment. Musharraf might go ahead with the
recommendation of the new Pakistan government. If that happens,
Sarabjit's death sentence could well be commuted to life
imprisonment. Under the growing cloud, this could be the best way
out for the Indian and Pakistani governments to get out of a sticky
situation on the Sarabjit case. But being a willing party to it
India might lose the moral high ground in seeking the death penalty
for those involved in terrorist activities in the country. New Delhi
might end up paying a very heavy price for Sarabjit.
(Pranay Sharma is the strategic affairs editor of IANS. The views
expressed are personal. He can be contacted at pranay.s@ians.in)
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