I am being mentally tortured: Sarabjit tells sister from Pak jail

In the letters (copies of which are with The Indian Express),written to Dalbir in Hindi,Sarabjit has explained the “inhuman treatment and mockery” he was being subjected to in jail. The letters,which also included those wri-tten to his daughter Poonam and Congress president Sonia Gandhi,was brought to India by Sarabjit’s Pakistan counsel Awais Sheikh.

“I am being given something in my food and this is going on for the last two to three months. My body is getting wasted. There is pain in my left arm and the left leg is getting weaker and was failing to move,” Sarabjit wrote,adding that at times,he cries due to the unbearable pain. “When I feel pain,those on duty poke fun at me instead of giving me any medicine,” he wrote. Sarabjit also drew an illustration of the area where he was feeling pain.

Claiming that the food served to the prisoners in the jail was very poor,Sarabjit wrote: “The food is not worth eating. Even if one eats,it cannot be digested.” He added that he prefers to eat food that he cooks on given days and the rest of the time,the food he eats was same as “poison”.

He further said: “Please bring this in the notice of Indian government that jail officials are not behaving properly with me. They threaten me by saying ‘your bones should not reach India’. Ever since the new superintendent,Mohsin Rafiq,has joined work,our condition has deteriorated.”

About Surjeet Singh’s statement that he was fine in jail,Sarabjit wrote: “Whatever Surjeet Singh says about me is wrong.” He also told his sister that he had run out of the money she had given him during her earlier visit.

In a letter to Sonia Gandhi,Sarabjit has urged her to ensure visa for his sister and family in case there was delay in his release. He added that he was thankful to the people of India,state governments and the Centre,which had launched an agitation and “made my release possible”.