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Musharraf delays execution of Indian on terror charges
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Thu, Mar 20, 2008
The Straits Times
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LAHORE - PAKISTANI President Pervez Musharraf has delayed by 30 days the execution of an Indian prisoner who was condemned to death on charges of terrorism.
The move came a day after Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said his government was making all possible efforts to seek a reprieve from Islamabad for convict Sarabjit Singh.
Sarabjit, whose family says he is the victim of mistaken identity, was due to be hanged on April 1 after being convicted of involvement in an attack in 1990 that killed four people in the Pakistani city of Lahore.
'The president of Pakistan has been pleased to stay the execution of condemned prisoner Manjeet Singh alias Sarabjit Singh for a period of 30 days up to April 30, 2008,' said Mr Bashir Khan, deputy superintendent of Lahore's Kot Lakhpat jail, who read out a presidential order to AFP.
| The Supreme Court had earlier rejected an appeal against his death penalty, while Mr Musharraf also rejected his mercy petition this month.
Pakistan maintains that Sarabjit was an Indian spy, but his family say he is a farmer who accidentally strayed across the border into Pakistan while drunk. He has been in jail in Pakistan since 1990.
They said that he had been confused with another man named Manjeet Singh whom Pakistan blames for a series of bombings in Lahore.
In New Delhi, lawmakers cutting across party lines cheered Mr Musharraf's decision by thumping their desks in Parliament as the Indian government said it would not give up efforts to save Sarabjit from the gallows.
'The (Indian) government has just received a communication from the Indian embassy in Islamabad regarding this decision,' Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee said amid loud cheers in Parliament's lower house.
'The government of India is continuing its efforts to save the life of Sarabjit Singh and we have achieved partial success and we will continue to carry on our efforts,' Mr Mukherjee told the house.
On Tuesday, Pakistan's caretaker Human Rights Minister Ansar Burney urged Mr Musharraf to let Sarabjit live out his days in jail, saying that to execute him after so long on death row would amount to a double punishment and 'a murder of human rights'.
Last month, Mr Burney successfully petitioned Mr Musharraf to pardon an Indian man on humanitarian grounds, after the man had spent 35 years in jail for alleged espionage.
The return home to India of Mr Kashmir Singh was hailed as a sign of improving relations between the two South Asian neighbours, who have fought three wars since their independence from Britain in 1947.
However, the mood soured when Mr Kashmir Singh acknowledged that his protestations of innocence had been a ruse and that he had indeed been spying for India.
Ties were further strained on March 10, when India returned the body of an alleged Pakistani spy who died in custody.
Relatives of the dead man claimed he had been mistreated and Pakistan has demanded an explanation.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, ASSOCIATED PRESS
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