Death anniversary: A year past, Sarabjit Singh’s murder remains a mystery
Inquiry committee had completed recording witnesses’ statements several months ago.
Inquiry committee had completed recording witnesses’ statements several months ago. PHOTO: AFP
LAHORE:
It has been exactly one year since Sarabjit Singh, an Indian prisoner on death row, was attacked by prison inmates in Kot Lakhpat Jail, yet the judicial inquiry ordered into the incident remains incomplete.
Lahore High Court officials have told The Express Tribune that while the inquiry tribunal, comprising Justice Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi of the Lahore High Court, managed to record statements of all the witnesses in this regard a few months ago, the report on the issue is yet to be compiled.
The report, officials said, needs to include the tribunal’s findings on who was responsible for Singh’s death.
The tribunal has recorded statements of witnesses including prisoners, jail authorities and police officials dealing with the matter.
Lahore High Court Research Officer Muhammad Ahmed Khan, who was appointed spokesperson for the tribunal, told The Express Tribune that the inquiry had been initiated several months ago. However, Justice Naqvi had been serving on the Rawalpindi bench of the Lahore High Court for several weeks, which is why the report could not be compiled.
Khan said he couldn’t remember exactly when the inquiry was initiated. Bushra Zaman, the registrar for the tribunal, had also been transferred since and was no longer with the tribunal, he said.
Khan could also not provide a timeframe for when the report could be compiled.
On May 16, 2013, Lahore High Court Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial appointed Justice Syed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi as a member of the inquiry tribunal to hold a judicial inquiry into Singh’s murder by his fellow prisoners at Kot Lakhpat Jail. The tribunal had been appointed on a written request for an inquiry on the matter by the then caretaker chief minister Najam Sethi.
Dalbir Kaur, Singh’s sister, told The Express Tribune over the telephone from India that the tribunal had neither contacted her nor anyone else from Singh’s family for their side of the story. She said that the family was oblivious of the inquiry and, “in such a situation, what good can be expected from this so-called inquiry”.
Kaur said she was waiting for the new government in India to come to power after the elections, after which she will take up the issue at the diplomatic level. She said there was no doubt that her brother had been targeted in connivance with state officials but she, Singh’s wife and their children wanted to know who exactly was behind the attack.
Sarabjit Singh was attacked on April 26, 2013, and succumbed to his injuries on May 2, 2013.
Singh had been brutally beaten up by his fellow inmates at Kot Lakhpat Jail and had suffered head injuries. He passed away soon after his family returned to India after spending three days visiting him at the hospital in Pakistan.
His family arrived in Pakistan on April 28, 2013, on a 15-day visa but the visit was cut short after one of Singh’s daughters fell ill.
According to the Prosecution Department, Sarbjit Singh, a resident of Bhikhiwind village of Amritsar, had illegally crossed the Indian border at Kasur on August 29, 1990, and had been accused of carrying out four bomb blast attacks in Faisalabad, Multan and Lahore on July 29, 1990, in an FIR originally registered against a Manjeet Singh.
Sarabjit Singh was sentenced to death under Sections 302 (murder) and 307 (attempted murder) of the Pakistan Penal Code and Section 3 of the Explosive Substance Act on August 15, 1991.
Sarabjit Singh’s family and counsel had termed the incident a case of mistaken identity.
His lawyer, Awias Sheikh, had said that Singh had been sentenced on the basis of a confession made before a TV camera after he had been tortured. Sheikh said the confession had no legal standing.
Sheikh, talking to The Express Tribune from Sweden, said the delay in completion of the inquiry spoke of the judicial system’s apathy. He said Singh’s family wanted to know who was behind the murder.
He said the report should have been completed several months ago and made public. He said if the government was serious about ensuring security to foreigners and minorities in the country’s prisons, all those responsible for the attack must be brought to book regardless of their rank in public offices.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 26th, 2014.
It has been exactly one year since Sarabjit Singh, an Indian prisoner on death row, was attacked by prison inmates in Kot Lakhpat Jail, yet the judicial inquiry ordered into the incident remains incomplete.
Lahore High Court officials have told The Express Tribune that while the inquiry tribunal, comprising Justice Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi of the Lahore High Court, managed to record statements of all the witnesses in this regard a few months ago, the report on the issue is yet to be compiled.
The report, officials said, needs to include the tribunal’s findings on who was responsible for Singh’s death.
The tribunal has recorded statements of witnesses including prisoners, jail authorities and police officials dealing with the matter.
Lahore High Court Research Officer Muhammad Ahmed Khan, who was appointed spokesperson for the tribunal, told The Express Tribune that the inquiry had been initiated several months ago. However, Justice Naqvi had been serving on the Rawalpindi bench of the Lahore High Court for several weeks, which is why the report could not be compiled.
Khan said he couldn’t remember exactly when the inquiry was initiated. Bushra Zaman, the registrar for the tribunal, had also been transferred since and was no longer with the tribunal, he said.
Khan could also not provide a timeframe for when the report could be compiled.
On May 16, 2013, Lahore High Court Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial appointed Justice Syed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi as a member of the inquiry tribunal to hold a judicial inquiry into Singh’s murder by his fellow prisoners at Kot Lakhpat Jail. The tribunal had been appointed on a written request for an inquiry on the matter by the then caretaker chief minister Najam Sethi.
Dalbir Kaur, Singh’s sister, told The Express Tribune over the telephone from India that the tribunal had neither contacted her nor anyone else from Singh’s family for their side of the story. She said that the family was oblivious of the inquiry and, “in such a situation, what good can be expected from this so-called inquiry”.
Kaur said she was waiting for the new government in India to come to power after the elections, after which she will take up the issue at the diplomatic level. She said there was no doubt that her brother had been targeted in connivance with state officials but she, Singh’s wife and their children wanted to know who exactly was behind the attack.
Sarabjit Singh was attacked on April 26, 2013, and succumbed to his injuries on May 2, 2013.
Singh had been brutally beaten up by his fellow inmates at Kot Lakhpat Jail and had suffered head injuries. He passed away soon after his family returned to India after spending three days visiting him at the hospital in Pakistan.
His family arrived in Pakistan on April 28, 2013, on a 15-day visa but the visit was cut short after one of Singh’s daughters fell ill.
According to the Prosecution Department, Sarbjit Singh, a resident of Bhikhiwind village of Amritsar, had illegally crossed the Indian border at Kasur on August 29, 1990, and had been accused of carrying out four bomb blast attacks in Faisalabad, Multan and Lahore on July 29, 1990, in an FIR originally registered against a Manjeet Singh.
Sarabjit Singh was sentenced to death under Sections 302 (murder) and 307 (attempted murder) of the Pakistan Penal Code and Section 3 of the Explosive Substance Act on August 15, 1991.
Sarabjit Singh’s family and counsel had termed the incident a case of mistaken identity.
His lawyer, Awias Sheikh, had said that Singh had been sentenced on the basis of a confession made before a TV camera after he had been tortured. Sheikh said the confession had no legal standing.
Sheikh, talking to The Express Tribune from Sweden, said the delay in completion of the inquiry spoke of the judicial system’s apathy. He said Singh’s family wanted to know who was behind the murder.
He said the report should have been completed several months ago and made public. He said if the government was serious about ensuring security to foreigners and minorities in the country’s prisons, all those responsible for the attack must be brought to book regardless of their rank in public offices.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 26th, 2014.