Sarabjit case to figure in Indo-Pak Home Secretary level case, says sister

New Delhi, May 21 (PTI) India will take up with Pakistan the issue of early release of Sarabjit Singh, the condemned Indian prisoner currently lodged in a Lahore jail, during the Home Secretary-level talks on May 24-25. This was conveyed by India's Home Minister P Chidambaram to Sarabjit's sister Dalbir Kaur, who met him here today to request him to ask Home Secretary R K Singh to raise the issue of Sarabjit during the forthcoming talks in Islamabad. "The Home Minister assured me that the Home Secretary will raise the issue of early release of Sarabjit during the talks with Pakistan. I am hopeful about a positive outcome in the meeting," Kaur told PTI. Kaur told Chidambaram that India should take the advantage of the recent bonhomie between the two countries and try its best to get the release of Sarabjit. "I appeal to the Pakistan government to release Sarabjit on humanitarian ground like India did in case of Pakistani virologist Khalil Chishti," she said. Sarabjit was convicted for his involvement in 1990 serial bomb blasts in Lahore and Multan that killed 14 people. He claims that he is just a poor farmer and victim of mistaken identity, who strayed into Pakistan from his village located on the border. He was given death sentence, but his hanging was repeatedly postponed and he is imprisoned in the Kot Lakhpat Jail in Lahore. PTI