Kalam
to talk to Musharraf about Sarabjit
by Chandrika
Jain
New
Delhi: President APJ Abdul Kalam today met Dalbir Kaur,
the elder sister of Pakistan death row inmate Sarabjit Singh,
and assured her that he would personally talk to Pakistan
President Pervez Musharraf to seek a pardon for Singh. Kalam
met Kaur and Sarabjit's daughter Poonam for about 20 minutes
at his official residence. "Dr Kalam assured us that he
would talk to Musharraf and said that he had been informed
that the issue would be taken up in the Pakistan Assembly.
He said that he would also discuss the matter with Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh," Dalbir Kaur told reporters after
meeting the President. "We met him and presented each and
every detail about the case as there was no point in hiding
anything. I told Dr. Kalam that my brother is living a terrible
life in jail without any evidence and proof given during
the proceedings," she added. Dalbir said she also appealed
to Dr. Kalam to approach the UPA Government to grant her
a passport so that she could meet her brother after getting
appropriate visa clearance from Pakistan. "Dr. Kalam has
asked me to file a request in relation to the need of passport
and today I submitted an application regarding this. I am
hoping that I would get a passport soon," she said. Talking
to reporters she also said that the Pakistan Government
is yet to receive a petition from the Indian Government
to grant Sarabjit pardon.
Sarabjit,
who has been in Lahore's Kot Lakhpat Jail since 1992, has
been charged with spying and for perpetrating bomb blasts
in Lahore, Faisalabad and Multan in which 14 people were
killed in 1990-91. Last month, the Supreme Court in Pakistan
rejected Sarabjit's appeal to have his death sentence commuted.
His family, however, is of an opinion that he is a victim
of mistaken identity. On April 4, Sarabjit's daughter wrote
a letter to Musharraf and pleaded for mercy for her father.
Referring to Musharraf as uncle, she said in her letter
that since she had not seen her father since birth, mercy
should be granted on humanitarian grounds. In her letter
she said that by extending mercy to Sarabjit, Musharraf
could give life not only to the guilty but to the whole
family. Although Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during his
recent visit to Amritsar on March 24 assured the family
that he would take up the issue with Pakistan President,
no progress had been made as yet. Dalbir said Last date
of mercy appeal was April 9 and Sarabjit had already filed
it.
Making
a reference to Kerala's Abdul Latif Naushad, who was convicted
of damaging the eye of a Saudi man during a scuffle in 2003,
Dalbir said that if the Government through its intervention
was successful to save Naushad of the punishment, which
accorded eye for an eye according to the laws of the land
in Saudi Arabia, even Sarabjit could be freed. Dalbir said
although Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during his recent
visit to Amritsar on March 24 assured the family that he
would take up the issue with Pakistan President, no progress
had been made as yet. She said that the last date of mercy
appeal was April 9 and Sarabjit had already filed it. Now
the Government's must intervene, she added. Dalbir had also
sought the issuance of passports to visit Pakistan to make
personal appeal to Musharraf.
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