Sarabjit's sister urges Pak to re-investigate brother's case

Lahore (PTI) - The sister of Sarabjit Singh, an
Indian on death row here following his conviction for alleged
involvement in bomb attacks, on Friday urged the Pakistan
government to send a special team to India to re-investigate
his case.
Dalbir Kaur told a press conference here that her
brother was innocent and a Pakistani team could investigate
and ascertain the facts both within the country and in India.
"Every resident of my village in India will endorse my
version as Manjeet Singh, the real culprit responsible for the
bomb blasts in Pakistan, has been arrested in India," she
said.
Kaur, who arrived in Pakistan on June 6 to lobby
Pakistani leaders to release Sarabjit, met her brother in Kot
Lakhpat Jail last month.
She said: "I am going back with a strong hope that the
Pakistan government will soon release my brother. Please
release Sarabjit on humanitarian grounds or after
reinvestigating his case."
Indian and Pakistani nationals awaiting trial in each
other's prisons should be released as a goodwill gesture, said
Kaur, who is scheduled to leave Pakistan on July 5.
She lauded the hospitality of Pakistanis, saying: "The
environment in Lahore is like that at home as the people here
treat me as like their sister."
During her stay in Pakistan, Kaur visited the shrines
of Hazrat Ali Hajveri and Hazrat Mian Mir, where she and her
hosts prayed for the release of her brother.
She thanked leading Pakistani rights activist Ansar
Burney for helping her get a visa.
Kaur praised Burney for his role in freeing six Indian
sailors from Somali pirates along with other members of the
crew of the MV Suez.
She also thanked Pakistan's judiciary for allowing her
to see her brother which otherwise would not have been
possible because the prison authorities had initially refused
to permit her to meet Sarabjit.
Sarabjit has been on death row since he was convicted
for alleged involvement in four bomb blasts in 1990 that
killed 14 people.
The verdict was upheld by the Lahore High Court and
the Supreme Court. His family insists he was wrongly convicted
for the bombings.
Though Sarabjit was set to be hanged in 2008,
Pakistani authorities put off his execution indefinitely after
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani intervened in the matter.
Awais Sheikh, the counsel of Sarabjit, said he had
appealed to President Asif Ali Zardari to convert his client's
death penalty to life imprisonment.
He said Sarabjit had already spent 21 years in jail.
"Sarabjit is innocent and was never involved in bomb
explosions in Pakistan," Sheikh said.
The release of Sarabjit will be a positive gesture to
the Indian people and it will help reduce tensions between the
two countries, he said.