LAHORE/ISLAMABAD, 24 April 2008 — Relatives of Indian spy Sarabjit Singh due to be hanged in Pakistan arrived in Lahore yesterday on a last-ditch mission to save him from the gallows.
The wife, daughters and sister of Sarabjit Singh said they hoped to meet him in prison and would file an appeal to President Pervez Musharraf asking him to grant clemency to the condemned man.
“I will be meeting my husband for the first time in 18 years. He mistakenly crossed the border when he was drunk, he is not a terrorist,” his wife Sukhpreet Kaur told reporters.
“We will file an appeal to the President of Pakistan.” His daughter Swapandeep, who was three weeks old when her father was arrested, said she hoped a peace process launched between the nuclear-armed nations in 2004 would help save his life.
“The friendly relations between Pakistan and India are strengthening and we are hopeful that these relations would be very useful in the case of my dad,” the 18-year-old said.
Sarabjit is due to be hanged on April 30 after being convicted of involvement in blasts in 1990 that killed four people in the Pakistani city of Lahore. Pakistani television has shown footage of his alleged confession.
But he and his family insist that he is the victim of mistaken identity and his family say he inadvertently crossed the border in a state of inebriation.
The chief of Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat Central Jail, where Sarabjit is being held, said Musharraf had already postponed the execution by one month.
“We have not received any further stay order for the execution of the death sentence,” jail superintendent Malik Mubashar Ahmed Khan said.
“So far we also do not have any information or instruction that the family members of Sarabjit will be meeting him in prison. But we will follow whatever instructions we get from the home department.” Other relatives of Sarabjit who are in Pakistan include his sister Dalbir Kaur.
“I have not given up hope that he will come back to us safe and sound,” Dalbir told AFP before crossing the Wagah border, the main land crossing between the two countries.
Pakistan, Afghanistan to Boost Ties
Pakistan and Afghanistan have agreed to a “new beginning” to bilateral relations based on complete mutual trust and understanding, an joint statement said yesterday.
The announcement came as Afghan Foreign Minister Rangin Dadfar Spanta concluded his two-day visit to Pakistan yesterday, his first since Pakistan elected a new government.
Spanta held talks with his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mahmood Qureshi and met President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani.
“Both sides reaffirmed their resolve toward intensifying cooperation and coordination between the two nations in the fight against international terrorism and narcotics,” said the statement issued after the visit.
It said, “in order to achieve further success in this area, emphasis was put upon strengthening the established mechanisms between the two countries.” Ties between Pakistan and Afghanistan have been beset with a history of mistrust over their efforts to combat Taleban and Al-Qaeda militants under the aegis of the US-led “war on terror.”
“The two foreign ministers expressed their satisfaction with the results of the last round of joint peace jirga (assembly) held in Kabul in August, and decided that the process should be given fresh momentum,” the statement added.
Qureshi told his Afghan counterpart that “Pakistan would be soon nominating its members for a smaller Peace Jirga (Jirga-gai),” which will hold its first meeting in Islamabad.
The two sides also discussed ways to further accelerate development in the region and in Afghanistan.
“Both ministers agreed on the importance of convening the third regional economic cooperation conference on Afghanistan (RECCA) in Islamabad,” the statement added.
Saudi-Pak Cooperation
Federal Education Minister Ahsan Iqbal has said cooperation between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia in education is the need of the hour and in the interest of both the countries.
Talking to Saudi Ambassador to Pakistan Ali Awadh Asseri here, Iqbal stressed the need for exchange of teachers between the two countries saying Pakistan can provide English teachers to Saudi Arabia and can hire Arabic teachers from there.
— With input from agencies
