Released Indian prisoners pose with Dubai-based hotelier, SP Singh Oberoi (C), who helped secure their release, pose for a photo at the Sikh Shrine Golden temple in Amritsar. PHOTO: AFP
Seventeen Indians sentenced to death for murdering a Pakistani in the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday paid obeisance at Harmandir Sahib, after securing their release by paying blood money.
The Indian men, from Punjab (16) and Haryana (one) were on death row in the Emirates for killing an alleged Pakistani bootlegger Misri Khan in Sharjah in 2009. They finally returned to their homeland on Tuesday after benefactors managed to pay the $25 million diyat (blood money) to secure their release.
The men had gone to Dubai in search of better fortunes. There they chanced upon the lucrative illicit-liquor trade in the Gulf country where sale and consumption of alcohol without license is a criminal offence. The men had been convicted of murdering Pakistani Misri Khan, an alleged bootlegger.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 13th, 2013.
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