The Indian and Pakistani governments should release prisoners languishing in their jails for over 30 years as a good will gesture, said Dalbir Kaur while talking to reporters outside Kot Lakhpat Central Jail after meeting her convict brother Sarabjit Singh on Thursday.
The lady, accompanied by her lawyer, reached the jail at 11:00 am and was granted permission by the jail administration to meet Sarabjit.
The meeting lasted for about two hours and Dilbir left the jail around1:30 pm. The convict’s sister talked to the reporters after the meeting and claimed that her brother was innocent and was not involved terrorist activities. She said Sarabjit had been detained by Pakistani authorities for over 20 years without evidence and witnesses and the actual terrorist involved in the incident was Manjeet Singh son of Megha Singh. She said she would make an appeal to the president of Pakistan to either release her brother or change his punishment from death sentence to life imprisonment.
Diljit refused to comment on Shaukat Khan’s (a victim of the bombing allegedly carried out by Sarabjit) family’s threat to commit collective suicide on Sarabjit’s release.
She said her brother was innocent and should be released.
While talking about her brother, Diljit said she had met Sarabjit after three years but he was still in the death cell. She said Sarabjit had two pet cats in the death cell and he had named one of them Lachoo after his younger daughter. She said she had delivered the messages of Sarbjit’s wife, daughters and friends and had tied him three “Rakhees”.
Dalbir thanked Lahore High Court Chief Justice Ijaz Chaudhary for allowing her to meet her brother. She also thanked the jail superintendent and other officials who extended the meeting time from 40 minutes to 2 hours.
Advocate Awais Sheikh said Sarabjit had written two different letters to the authorities. In his first letter to President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari, he had appealed to change his punishment to life imprisonment. In the other letter to Chief Justice of Supreme Court Chaudhry Iftikhar Ahmed, Sarabjit had appealed to reopen his case and fix a date for hearing. It is pertinent to mention that Sarabjit Singh was involved in Lahore and Multan serial bomb blasts in 1990 and was sentenced to death after which he was shifted to Kot Lakhpat Central Jail in 1992.
