Pakistan’s former human rights minister Ansar Burney has offered to pay Rs 25 lakhs in “blood money” to save 17 Indians in death row in the UAE from the gallows. He recently made a special trip to Sharjah to ascertain the facts of the case for himself. He said the 17 Indians were convicted on the testimony of a lone eyewitness who has since reneged and confessed that he never actually identified any of the men convicted of murder.
“We have spoken to Mushtaq. He told us that he does not identify any of the accused involved in the brawl that resulted in the death of Misri Nazir Khan. This man’s new testimony may hold the key to prove the Indians innocent,” Mr Burney said.
According to him Mushtaq had confessed that almost everyone, including himself, present at the time of the brawl was drunk and clearly not in a position to offer any valid testimony. “He has promised to testify to this in the court,” said the former minister.
But not willing to stake the lives of 17 innocent men on the testimony of one man, representatives of the Ansar Burney Trust have established contact with the victim’s family in Pakistan. Misri Nazir Khan’s kin are believed to have agreed to accept the trust’s offer of $54,000 as “blood money”.
Notably, Mr Burney had also visited Mumbai in wake of the Mumbai terror strikes and insisted on personally donating blood for victims at a local hospital in November 2008.
He was also actively involved in the release and repatriation of the former Indian spy Kashmir Singh after 37 years in captivity in Pakistan.
Meanwhile, the UAE court hearing the appeal filed on behalf of the 17 Indian convicts, on Wednesday, deferred further proceedings in the case until July 14 because the prosecution failed to arrange an interpreter for translations from Arabic to Punjabi. This is the second time when the hearing had to be adjourned because of the non-availability of an interpreter.
The Chandigarh-based NGO, lawyers for Human Rights International, which has been closely tracking the case in Sharjah, said, “most of our boys (the convicts) cannot comprehend the Hindi translations offered to them.”