May 2, 2008 Sarabjit's Execution
Stayed Indefinitely: Pakistani Lawyer
New Delhi
Islamabad has stayed indefinitely the execution of Sarabjit Singh,
an Indian prisoner on death row in Pakistan, his lawyer told an
Indian news channel Friday.
"The death sentence has been postponed till further orders,"
Sarabjit's lawyer in Pakistan, Rana Abdul Hamid, told private
television channel CNN-IBN.
He added that the instructions were issued by the Pakistani interior
ministry.
Answering a question on whether his client's sentence may be
commuted, Hamid added, "We may think on this line. We may presume
that it will be converted into life sentence".
The Pakistani lawyer also reported that Sarabjit's clemency petition
was currently with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf.
Minister of State for External Affairs Anand Sharma told NDTV that
India was "awaiting confirmation" on the news. "We cannot comment
with finality on these reports. We will be much relieved if that is
the decision. India has been urging the government of Pakistan to
take a humanitarian view and asked for clemency for Sarabjit Singh."
The news comes three weeks before External Affairs Minister Pranab
Mukhejee visits Pakistan on May 21.
The Indian government had previously asked for clemency on
humanitarian grounds, following which the hanging had been postponed
by a month to May 1. Then, by another order on April 28, the
execution had been stayed for upto three weeks.
Earlier Thursday morning, the Pakistani information and broadcasting
minister Sherry Rehman who led a three-member delegation to the
funeral of veteran Gandhian and Rajya Sabha member Nirmala Deshpande,
had said that Sarabjit's case was under review.
"As far as Sarabjit's status, we told didi (Nirmala Deshpande) that
we will do our best and it is under review," Rehman said, adding
that Deshpande had previously raised Sarabjit's issue with Pervez
Musharraf.
Sarabjit's elder sister Dalbir Kaur, his wife Sukhpreet Kaur,
daughters Swapandeep and Poonam and brother-in-law Baldevy Singh,
returned to India Tuesday after meeting him after 18 years in
Lahore's Kot Lakhpat Jail.
Sarabjit, known as Manjit Singh in Pakistan, has been sentenced to
death for two blasts in Lahore and Multan in 1990 which left 14
Pakistanis killed. Incidentally, during his family's visit, there
were some demonstrations by the kin of the victims killed in the
bomb blasts pleading against any mercy being shown to Sarabjit.
His family claims that he inadvertently crossed into Pakistan on
August 1990 in an inebriated state from the border near his home
town Bhikhiwind.
He was later caught in Pakistan and blamed for the two blasts. He
was sentenced to death by a lower court there and the sentence was
upheld by the Pakistan Supreme Court last year.
Musharraf had rejected a mercy plea from Sarabjit in March.
Human rights activist and former Pakistan minister Ansar Burney has
submitted a fresh plea to the Pakistan government to free Sarabjit
saying there was no concrete evidence against him in the blasts case
and that he had strayed into Pakistan by mistake.
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