Pakistan sets new date for Sarabjit's execution; scheduled on May 1 claims TV report

Sarabjit Singh's fate seems to be sealed as an Indian private TV channel’s report suggests that the Pakistani authorities have issued a fresh death warrant. The report says that according to a new warrant, Sarabjit will be now hanged on the 1st of May at Lahore's Kot Lakhpat Jail.

The warrant was issued on Thursday. According to Rana Abdul Hameed, Sarabjit's lawyer, who is now the Additional Advocate General of Punjab, the black warrant was issued on Thursday, directing the jail superintendent to carry out the execution.
 
The channel further quoted Hameed as saying that the execution was only postponed for a month on the request of the Indian government. It now appears the Pakistani authorities had decided to execute him despite repeated requests by his family for a pardon.

Rana said that the Pakistan President Musharraf had already rejected Sarabjit's mercy plea and there was no other remedy available if he had decided not to entertain India's request. "Sarabjit should blame his plight on the indiscreet remarks of Kashmir Singh," Rana reportedly said, referring to the convicted Indian spy released earlier by Pakistani authorities who, once safe home in India, disclosed that he had indeed been a spy.

The development has come as a huge blow to Dalbir Kaur, Sarabjit Singh's sister, who had received an invitation to visit Pakistan and approval stamps on her passport. The family, who got a green signal on Wednesday to visit Pakistan, is now busy preparing for the long-desired tour to meet Sarabjit.

Singh, who is lodged in a Lahore jail, was sentenced to death for his alleged involvement in 1990 serial blasts in Lahore and Multan. His hanging was, however, stayed till April 30 after the Indian government took up his case with the Pakistan authorities.

Armed with an invitation to visit Pakistan and approval stamps on their passports, Dalbir Kaur, Sarabjit Singh's sister, had another attempt at salvaging her brother's life by sending a mercy petition through a human rights activist to Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf. The petition filed by advocate Ranjan Lakhanpal says, "Warrants for execution of death sentence awarded to Sarabjit may be extended to three months and his death sentence be converted to life imprisonment''. Swapandeep Kaur, Sarabjit's daughter, said, "My aunt had a talk with the lawyer about moving the petition. This is a case of mistaken identity.''

The family, who got a green signal on Wednesday to visit Pakistan, is now busy preparing for the long-desired tour to meet Sarabjit. "We are packing food articles and other stuff for my father. We had never thought that we will get to meet him in such a manner.'' Facing a death row in Pakistan, Sarabjit was convicted for bomb blasts which killed 18 people.

Meanwhile, taking up the case of Sarabjit Singh, who is on death row in Pakistan, senior BJP leader L K Advani urged the country's new Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gillani to take the "bold step" of granting clemency to him as the gesture would win goodwill of the Indian people.

In a letter to Gillani on April 6, Advani said he was addressing him with the hope that the new democratically-elected PM would "preside over a new era in Pakistani politics and Indo-Pakistani amity". Advani said he was writing under "painful circumstances" on behalf of the people of India. "I plead the case for clemency of Sarabjit Singh... I urge you to adopt a bold step and grant clemency to Sarabjit Singh," Advani wrote.

The case of Sarabjit Singh appears to be that of mistaken identity, former Pakistani minister and UN Human Rights Council advisory committee member Ansar Burney said during his recent tour of India after meeting Sarabjit’s family. "Prima facie his (Sarabjit's) case appears to be that of mistaken identity," he told reporters here after holding talks with the Punjab State Human Rights Commission chairperson and its other members.

After collecting "evidence" in the shape of a video CD and copy of an FIR from the family members of Sarabjit, Burney said that "prima facie it appears to be a case of mistaken identity. "But, it will take some time to establish this. I will have to deeply look into the evidence provided by Sarabjit's family members to me," he said.

Burney had said that he would soon take up the issue of Sarabjit's release with the newly formed government in Pakistan. He said during the trial in Sarabjit's case in Pakistan, the witnesses had deposed before the court and identified him as the prime suspect in serial bomb blasts case. "Now I will have to first see his case and then only I can proceed in favour of Sarabjit by keeping in mind the human rights aspects," he said. Burney said that if an iota of doubt comes in a case of death penalty, the award must be commuted.

"I will have to cross check under what circumstances Sarabjit admitted in the court in Pakistan that he is involved in bomb blasts," he said. Sarabjit, who is lodged in a Lahore jail, was sentenced to death for his alleged involvement in 1990 serial blasts in Lahore and Multan.

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