- Sarabjit’s killers explain why they assaulted the Indian spy
- ‘Save your ties,’ HRCP urges Pak-India govts for damage control, says assault not possible without prison guards, authorities’ support
“We believe that killing Sarabjit was an act of virtue (sawab). If any one of our friends gets hold of Sarabjit’s body, it will be publicly burnt to ashes! Only then will the heirs of the martyrs find some peace.”
These were the words of Mudassar and Amir, death-row inmates charged with Sarabjit’s murder, when the Kot Lakhpat Jail Investigation Incharge Chaudhry Rehmat Ali asked them to explain why they had assaulted the Indian spy.
“How could Sarabjit get away with operationalising such bombings and killing 16 people? I am proud of killing him,” said Amir, who goes by the name of Amir Tambaywala in jail.
Indian death row prisoner Sarabjit Singh died of a cardiac arrest on Thursday after being comatosed for nearly a week following a brutal assault by the two Pakistani convicts.
WHY AMIR IS CALLED TAMBAYWALA: According to sources, Amir had a friend named Shafiq Tambaywala who was murdered by his rivals in a shootout some years ago. Amir vowed to avenge his friend’s murder, however, before he could get his hands on them, his friend’s brother-in-law Malik Shaukat somehow settled the matter with the assailants.
Amir was not satisfied. Later, he in connivance with Mudassar killed Malik Shaukat for compromising with his friend’s murderers.
Known for avenging Shafiq Tambaywala’s murder, he was christened as Amir Tambaywala.
HRCP DEMANDS JUSTICE: The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has demanded action against all those who played any part in the assault on Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh, who died in a hospital on Wednesday, and called upon Islamabad and Delhi to take urgent measures to prevent the incident from undermining bilateral ties between the countries.
In a statement issued on Thursday, the Commission said, “Not even the most naïve can believe that a prisoner like Sarabjit in a death cell inside a jail can be targeted in such a brutal assault by prisoners without the knowledge and support of prison guards and the authorities. This is far more serious a crime than allowing someone like General Pervez Musharraf to escape from court. It was no secret that Sarabjit faced more threats than other prisoners on account of the charge that he was convicted of and yet his security was so completely compromised.”
The HRCP pointed out that Sarabjit died when members of the joint Pak-India Judges Committee were visiting Pakistan in order to assess the conditions of detention of Indian prisoners in Pakistani jails.
Furthermore, the statement read, “Those elements in India who are no less vengeful, intolerant and fond of jingoism than their Pakistani counterparts would no doubt write their own script now.”
The HRCP showed concerned that Sarabjit’s death might undermine the hard work done by both countries to normalise relations. The commission feared that the two countries would have to go out of their way to undo the damage that the murder and the manner that it took place in had done.
The Commission stressed the need to expeditiously conclude a judicial inquiry to bring all those who were involved to justice. “If the two countries begin to treat each other’s prisoners with some compassion even now instead of exposing them to the worst of treatment reserved for prisoners in their jails, then some good would still have come from Sarabjit’s brutal murder,” the statement concluded.
Story’s translation from Urdu and editing by Moosa Abbas.
