Awais Sheikh, counsel for Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh who was murdered in Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat jail on May 2, has taken permanent refuge in Sweden following his alleged abduction bid near Lahore a day before Sarabjit’s death.
While talking to Times of India over phone from Sweden on Monday, Sheikh said, “Sweden has granted me permanent stay along with my family and has also provided me all facilities and security after taking note of my abduction and physical torture.”
He claimed that his life in Pakistan was under constant threat from people and organisations that were inimical to India-Pak friendship. Sheikh had claimed that some people had tried to abduct him and his son while they were going to buy land for a farmhouse near Lahore. He also told the Indian newspaper that the alleged abductors dumped both of them on the highway, a little after their abduction.
Sheikh also mentioned that a letter written by the chairperson of Human Rights Commission Pakistan, Zohra Yusuf on May 3 to then caretaker chief minister of Punjab Najam Sethi for providing security cover to him and his family was blatantly ignored.
“During my stay in Pakistan after the abduction attempt, there were many dark moments when my faith in humanity was sorely tested but I did not give myself up to despair,” he said.
Sheikh did not inform as to what he was doing in Sweden except that he was just settling in the new place. However, he said that his family felt secure in Sweden.
