LAHORE: Following the death of an Indian spy’s death in Lahore’s Jinnah Hospital on late Wednesday night, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on his official Twitter page that the criminals responsible for the barbaric and murderous attack on Sarabjit Singh must be brought to justice.
The 49-year-old Sarabjit Singh, who was sentenced to death 16 years ago on espionage charges, died in Lahore’s Jinnah Hospital at 1:00 am local time after lying in a comatose state for the last five days, a senior doctor at the hospital said.
India has complained that its diplomats were denied access to the prisoner as he fought for his life, and the premier said it was “particularly regrettable” that Pakistan had not responded to appeals “to take a humanitarian view of this case”.
The prime minister added that New Delhi would make the necessary arrangements to bring his body home for funeral rites, after earlier negotiations to treat the jailed spy in India or a third country failed.
Singh went into a coma after suffering multiple serious injuries when six prisoners attacked him on April 26 at Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat Jail, hitting him on the head with bricks and fracturing his skull.
“His condition was more than critical and he had (little) chance of survival,” Sheikh told.
Singh was convicted for his alleged involvement in a string of bomb attacks in Pakistan’s Punjab province that killed 14 people in 1990. His mercy petitions were rejected by the courts and former president Pervez Musharraf.
His family insisted he was merely a farmer who became a victim of mistaken identity after inadvertently straying across the border while drunk.
India’s foreign ministry spokesman Syed Akbaruddin called for Pakistan to conduct an investigation into the prison attack.
Four members of Singh’s family — his wife, two daughters and his sister — who travelled to Lahore on Tuesday have since returned to India.
DND
