A fresh mercy petition on Wednesday was moved to President Asif Ali Zardari by Indian prisoner in death row Sarabjit Singh, praying for the grant of presidential pardon under Article 45 of the constitution. Sarabjit Singh’s counsel Awais Sheikh advocate was addressing a press conference at the Lahore Press Club. He said that Sarabjit Singh was sentenced by the military court during general Zia-ul-Haq’s regime in 1985. The petition asks for his death sentence to be converted to life imprisonment which he has already completed in the Kot Lakhpat Central Jail, Lahore. Awais also appealed to the prime ministers of India and Pakistan to pass directives, for the concerned authorities in their respective countries, for the immediate release of the Pakistani and Indian nationals who were detained in jails of the two countries even after the completion of their jail terms. He said that 365 Pakistanis are jailed in Indian prisons currently while the Indian Supreme Court has given order for the release of 54 Pakistanis on having served their jails terms, but they are still behind the bars.
