Sarabjit shifted to cell for political prisoners

Rezaul H. Laskar

Islamabad, Oct 28 (PTI) Indian national Sarabjit Singh,
awarded capital punishment for alleged involvement in bomb
attacks in Pakistan, has been shifted from death row cell to
one for political prisoners in a Lahore jail, raising hopes
that he might not be executed.

Sarabjit has been on death row since he was convicted of
triggering four blasts in 1990 that killed 14 people in the
country.

Geo News channel reported Tuesday that he had been
shifted from death row to a normal cell at Kot Lakhpat prison
in Lahore in the eastern province of Punjab in an indication
that he would not be hanged.

There was no official word on the development yet.

However, sources told P.T.I. that the jail department of
Punjab province had officially informed the federal interior
ministry that Sarabjit had been shifted to a cell for
political prisoners in Kot Lakhpat jail. Two jail staffers
will guard Sarabjit, the sources said.

Reports suggested there was also a proposal to shift
Sarabjit from Kot Lakhpat to Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi though
no final decision had been made in this regard.

The development came a little more than a fortnight after
Law Minister Farooq Naek met Sarabjit in Kot Lakhpat jail to
examine his case so that President Asif Ali Zardari could
decide whether to pardon him.

Naek, who met Sarabjit on October 6, had pointed out that
his mercy petition had been dismissed by the Supreme Court and
only the President had the powers to pardon or remit his
sentence. PTI RHL
PMR