ISLAMABAD, 31 August 2005 — Two Indian diplomats met yesterday with an Indian prisoner sentenced to death whose case has sparked demonstrations and threats of suicide in his own country, an official said.
The diplomats met with Sarabjit Singh, who is also called Manjit Singh, at Kot Lakhpat jail in Lahore, said Mohammed Afzal, a jail official. Pakistan granted consular access to Sarabjit after receiving a request from the Indian High Commission in the capital, Islamabad. Afzal gave no other details.
The diplomats met with Sarabjit for one hour, saying afterward that they were hopeful of resolving the case.
Islamabad accuses Sarabjit of being an Indian intelligence agent who carried out four bomb attacks, but his family says he is a victim of mistaken identity and have threatened to commit suicide if he is executed.
“I am sure both India and Pakistan would reach some sort of understanding on the issue,” Deepak Kaul, visa counselor at the Indian High Commission in Islamabad, said after the two-hour meeting at a jail in Lahore.
The case has caused uproar and protests in India, with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh assuring the prisoner’s relatives that he would speak to Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf about the possibility of clemency.
Sarabjit’s family says he is a farmer who crossed the border 15 years ago while drunk. His sister says her brother has been confused with a Manjit Singh, whom Pakistan wants for a series of bombings in Lahore in 1990. Pakistani officials said he had confessed to his crimes and was using Manjit Singh as an alias.
Pakistanis Return From Muscat
A group of at least 1,108 illegal Pakistani immigrants arrived in the port city of Karachi yesterday after being deported from Muscat.
“These Pakistanis arrived abroad two ships normally use to carry animals,” Salim Burney, an official of the Ansar Burney Welfare Trust (ABWT) said. Burney said the illegal immigrants, who arrived yesterday, were sent to Muscat on fake travel documents over the years by the agents after luring them into the trap of lucrative jobs.
