Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari is considering releasing Indian national Sarabjit Singh in response to appeals from various quarters, including his Mr Singh’s family, official sources said.
Dalbir Kaur, the sister of Sarabjit Singh who is in Lahore, has appealed to President Zardari to commute the death penalty of Sarabjit to life imprisonment.
She said due to a strict visa process, people of both India and Pakistan had suffered a lot to see their loved ones detained in different jails on different charges, so a new law should be evolved to address the issue.
“If Benazir Bhutto had been alive, she would surely have changed this strict punishment into life imprisonment to bridge the gap between the two countries,” Ms Kaur said.
She appealed to the authorities concerned to allow her to meet her brother, claiming that law enforcing agencies only found an identity card from Sarabjit Singh when they detained him over the charge of bombing in cities of Pakistan.
Ms Kaur said her brother was held illegally for eight days instead of being produced before a court in 24 hours.
She added that foreign prisoners should be treated like humans.
Sarabjit Singh, also known as Jaljit Singh, is an Indian citizen and jailed in Pakistan. He was convicted for his involvement in the 1990 serial bomb blasts in Lahore and Multan that killed 14 people.
He claims that he is just a poor farmer and a victim of mistaken identity who strayed into Pakistan from his village located on the border. Singh was given death sentence, but his hanging was repeatedly postponed. He is imprisoned in the Kot Lakhpat jail, Lahore.