“Sarabjit appealed that the relatives of prisoners should be allowed to meet them in the jails across border to save them from psychological trauma,” said Dalbir Kaur, sister of an alleged Indian spy Sarabjit Singh, flanked by lawyer Awais Sheikh addressing a press conference at the Lahore Press Club on Friday.
She said Sarabjit was confident and determined to secure his release. She thanked the Lahore High Court chief justice for allowing her to meet her brother twice. Dalbir said she returns to her country with the hope that Pakistani government would release her brother soon. She appealed to President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and Interior Minister Rehman Malik to change her brother’s punishment of death sentence to life imprisonment.
She said both countries should release prisons to improve relations. She also thanked the Pakistani media for highlighting her brother’s issue.
On Sarabjit’s request, Dilbir also met Karpal Singh, an Indian prisoner languishing in jail for past 19 years, on a special permission granted to her by the jail deputy superintendent.
During a one-month stay in Pakistan, Dilbir met different politicians, intellectuals and renowned lawyers including Aitzaz Ahsan and Hamid Khan and got legal advice from them regarding her brother’s case. She also went to Data Darbar and Mian Mir shrines and prayed for her brother’s release. She said she would go to Mazar-e-Iqbal on Saturday (today) before leaving for India through Wagah Border on July 5.
Sarabjit sent gifts and hand made paintings for his wife and daughters in India. Dalbir also handed over some food items and medicines to her brother.