Sarabjit’s family pleads for his release

Bhikhiwind (Amritsar): The family of Sarabjit Singh, whose death sentence in the 1990 bomb attack cases has been upheld in Pakistan, on Wednesday pleaded with the government to work with Islamabad for his release.

“I appeal to the Indian and the Pakistani governments that my husband is innocent. The time he has spent in Pakistan surpasses a life sentence. This delay is torturing us. If the Indian government puts pressure, he can be saved. The Indian government should not remain silent,” Sarabjit’s wife Sukhpreet Kaur said, with tears in her eyes.
The couple’s young daughters, Swapandeep and Poonam, said they earlier had “full confidence” that the hearing in their father’s case in the Pakistan Supreme Court would have a “positive” outcome. “But now we are shocked. We did not expect this...He is an Indian citizen. The Indian government should do something. We have given proofs of his innocence to the Pakistan government,” they said.
Noted jurist and criminal lawyer Ram Jethmalani has said the Indian government should intervene in the case.

A pall of gloom descended over Sarabjit’s village as soon as the news reached the family. Villagers thronged his residence to express their sympathies. Sarabjit has been on a death row since he was convicted of alleged involvement in four bomb blast cases in 1990 that killed 14 people.
Rana Abdul Hamid, the lawyer who was representing him, was unable to appear in court in Pakistan, after he was appointed an additional advocate general by the Punjab province last year.

Ms. Poonam said her family was told that a new lawyer did not appear in the case because he had not received money. “When the agreement for fighting our father’s case was signed, the lawyers said they would take Rs.2 lakh, and an additional Rs.1 lakh will have to be paid once he returned home. We have paid more than that, but the lawyer is saying that he has not received the fees. We have done so much,” she said.
Sarabjit’s wife told reporters that the lawyer fighting the case was demanding Rs.6 lakh to pursue the matter, even as the family is fighting for two square meals a day.

“Moreover, no Indian government official is willing to help our family arrange money for the lawyer in Pakistan,” Ms. Sukhpreet Kaur said. She said Sarabjit’s counsel had failed to appear in court for the past few hearings, including the last one on Monday.

Appeals to PM, Sonia

Sarabjit’s sister Dalbir Kaur said the family would approach Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress President Sonia Gandhi, and MP Rahul Gandhi to request them to work for his release.

“Now, I have strong hopes that Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and the Prime Minister will take up the matter with the Pakistan government for clemency to my brother,” Ms. Dalbir Kaur said.
Swapandeep said she would also meet Mr. Gandhi in this regard. “I will accompany my aunt to Delhi to meet Rahul bhaiya, who will definitely listen to the plight of my father and family,” she said. — PTI

Source: http://www.hindu.com/