India on Wednesday requested Pakistan to release death row prisoner Sarabjit Singh after Islamabad in a midnight twist said it had taken steps for the release of another Indian prisoner named Surjeet Singh, who had been jailed for three decades.
External Affairs Minister SM Krishna, who had on Tuesday thanked President Asif Ali Zardari following reports that Sarabjit was to be released, welcomed the decision to release Surjeet and made a fresh request for the release of Sarabjit. “I have seen media reports about the impending release from imprisonment in Pakistan of Surjeet Singh…I welcome this decision and further renew our request to the president of Pakistan to release Sarabjit Singh who has been in custody for over two decades. He is serving a death sentence,” Krishna said.
“As you are aware, the government of India has consistently urged the government of Pakistan on several occasions to take a sympathetic and humanitarian view on the case of Sarabjit Singh. I also appeal to the government of Pakistan to release all Indian nationals who have completed prison term. I request the release of all Indians who are serving jail sentences in Pakistani prisons,” the minister said. Meanwhile, Sarabjit’s wife Sukhpreet Kaur said she suspected foul play in the decision. “It is a cruel joke by the Pakistan government and we are heartbroken, they can’t play with our sentiments like this,” she said. On Tuesday night, Sukhpreet and her daughter Poonam Kaur were dancing and sharing sweets. But a few hours later, a pall of gloom descended as Sukhpreet received the news that it was not her husband but someone else who was being released.Sukhpreet said there was a possibility that the Pakistani government had changed the decision under pressure from fundamental groups. “I am not ready to believe the theory that there is any mistake or misunderstanding, there might be some forces behind it,” she said.
