Death-row prisoner: Sarabjit Singh dies in hospital

Indian spy’s family left for India earlier in the day.

LAHORE:

Convicted Indian spy Sarabjit Singh succumbed to his injuries after spending days in a coma in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of Jinnah Hospital, Express News reported late Wednesday night.

The Press Trust of India, on its official twitter account, also quoted the head of the medical board as saying that Sarabjit died at 1pm.

Sarabjit had been brutally beaten by fellow inmates in Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat jail and suffered head injuries in the attack.

His reported death came soon after his family members returned to India after spending three days in Pakistan.

However, at the time of the filing of this report, a doctor on duty said that Sarabjit has not officially been declared dead as they were still detecting a slight pulse. He was declared clinically dead when he slipped into a coma. Before Sarabjit’s family left for India, they told the doctors not to take him off the ventilator, as he was unable to breathe spontaneously.

His family had reached Pakistan on April 28 on a 15-day visa – but abruptly cut short its visit and returned to India citing the poor health of one of Sarabjit’s daughters as the reason.

According to reports, Sarabjit’s sister Dalbir Kaur returned to India to campaign for her brother’s release. Also the family reportedly went to the Indian capital of Delhi after crossing the Wagha border, instead of heading to their native city of Amritsar.

At the Wagah border, Kaur told the media that the jail authorities were responsible for the assault on her brother. “When the barracks of Indian prisoners are separate from those of Pakistani prisoners, how was the attack possible without the collaboration of jail authorities?”

She blamed the jail officials for providing inmates with rods, bricks and blades to attack her brother and demanded their removal from posts that require dealing with foreign prisoners.

Kaur told The Express Tribune that she intended to meet United Progressive Alliance Chairperson Sonia Gandhi to discuss the matter. She said she would also meet Indian officials to muster their support for securing the release of her brother.

Sources said Kaur would be also be initiating a move for the expulsion of Pakistani actors working in India taking the plea that Indians were being killed in Pakistan. He quoted Kaur saying that she would join protests in India against the attack on her brother.

The Indian government had also reportedly been trying to get Pakistani authorities to fly Sarabjit to a third country for treatment.

Following reports of his death, security was stepped up at Jinnah Hospital and the floor on which he was being treated was cordoned off.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 2^nd, 2013.