India urges Pakistan to grant clemency to Sarabjit Singh

As politicians across parties appealed to the Government to spare no effort to save Sarabjit from the gallows, Minister for External Affairs Pranab Mukherjee said in a statement in the Lok Sabha that the Government has not received any “formal intimation” from Pakistan. The Indian High Commission has sought information from the Pakistan Government following media reports. Sarabjit was sentenced to death for his alleged involvement in the 1990 bomb blasts in Lahore and Multan that claimed 14 lives.

Mukherjee said during his visit to Pakistan in January 2007, both the Governments had put in place certain institutional arrangements, including a new agreement on consular access. A delegation of family members of missing Indian defence personnel was also able to visit Pakistan last year. “It is in this context and in the same spirit that we appeal to the Government of Pakistan to treat Sarabjit’s case with clemency on humanitarian grounds,” he said.

However, Shiromani Akali Dal leader Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa said Mukherjee’s statement did not reveal what efforts were being made to save Sarabjit. He suspected that Pakistan probably wanted a trade-off in lieu of Sarabjit with India.

While Samajwadi Party member Ramjilal Suman pointed out that Sarabjit’s daughters have vowed to kill themselves in case he is hanged, BJP leader Vijay Kumar Malhotra said, “it’s a case of mistaken identity”. CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta appealed to the newly elected members of the Pakistan National Assembly to save Sarabjit as a “goodwill gesture”. Raking up the issue, the BJP said it is unfortunate that Sarabjit was being hanged in Pakistan while the UPA Government was not ready to carry out death sentence given to Afzal Guru, convicted in the 2001 Parliament attack case.

When several members pressed for a unanimous resolution by the House calling upon Pakistan to grant clemency to Sarabjit, Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi said one has “never heard of” a parliamentary resolution on a court judgment. He said the matter was being negotiated at the PM’s level.

However, there has been little hope coming from Islamabad with Pakistan Minister Ansar Burney, who was instrumental in the recent release of Kashmir Singh, saying that he will not submit any petition in support of Sarabjit as he had been “charged with terrorism”.

Meanwhile, Dalbir Kaur met Congress president Sonia Gandhi and said she had been assured of all possible support. Kaur, who is meeting political leaders in an effort to drum up support for her brother, said Sonia told her that she had spoken to the PM and Mukherjee on the issue. Kaur met Mukherjee and Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav and sought an appointment with the PM. She also met AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi, appealing to him to take up her brother’s cause with the Government.