The brutal assault on Sarabjit Singh, who is in “deep coma”, was not possible without the involvement of jail authorities in Lahore, and Pakistan should take immediate action against the perpetrators of the attack, his family said today.
“This is not possible without the involvement of the jail authorities,” the Indian death row convict’s sister Dalbir Kaur told reporters here before crossing over to Pakistan to meet 49-year-old Sarabjit who is battling for his life in a Lahore hospital after the brutal assault by jail inmates on Friday.
“Pakistan should take immediate action against the perpetrators of the attack on Sarabjit,” she said.
The Pakistan High Commission in Delhi has issued 15 days ‘gratis visa’ to Sarabjit’s wife Sukhpreet Kaur, daughters Poonam, Swapandeep Kaur and Dalbir Kaur to meet the Indian prisoner who is in “deep coma” and has been put on ventilator support.
Dalbir Kaur said, “Sarabjit had been stabbed with knives and someone must have told the jail inmates that all these were available in the prison. This had been intentionally done to Sarabjit.
“I am not ready to believe that they grabbed the keys from the jail warden. I think the warden himself gave the keys and they made most of that opportunity. Why his barrack was changed at the time when other Pakistani prisoners were having food,” she asked.
Kaur recalled that when she had gone to meet Sarabjit in the jail, the prison authorities had not even allowed her to carry her handkerchief. The food items she was carrying for her brother were checked after tearing the packets, she said.
Sarabjit was convicted for alleged involvement in a string of bomb attacks in Punjab province in Pakistan, that killed 14 people in 1990. His mercy petitions were rejected by the courts and former President Pervez Musharraf.
His family says he is a victim of mistaken identity and had inadvertently strayed across the border.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh termed the assault on Sarabjit inside jail as a “very sad” incident. “It is very sad. I think in the jail, I think some inmates attacked him. I think that is very sad,” he has said.