Ray of hope for Sarabjit, Pak mulls commuting death penalties

Rezaul H Laskar

Islamabad, Jan 2 (PTI) Indian national Sarabjit Singh,
who is on death row for alleged involvement in bomb attacks in
Pakistan, could get a reprieve as the government is examining
a proposal to commute all death sentences to life terms,
leading human rights activist Ansar Burney said Friday.

Burney, the former human rights minister, said he had
been informed by a "knowledgeable and responsible source" that
the Law Ministry had sent a "summary" or formal proposal to
the Interior Ministry to convert all death sentences to life
imprisonment.

"If this move is cleared by the Interior Ministry, it
will apply to all cases of prisoners awarded death sentence,
including Sarabjit. One cannot make a distinction by saying
that a convict was involved in terrorism or that he killed
more people than another convicted person," Burney told PTI.

Burney and his rights organisation have been at the
forefront of a campaign to convert all death sentences to life
imprisonment. The Ansar Burney Trust has even contended that
up to 60 percent of people on death row in Pakistani jails
had been wrongly convicted.

The rights activist has also made several efforts to get
Sarabjit's death sentence converted to life imprisonment.

Sarabjit was convicted for alleged involvement in four
bomb attacks in Punjab province in 1990 that killed 14 people.
His mercy petitions have been rejected by Pakistan's Supreme
Court and former President Pervez Musharraf.

His family says Sarabjit is innocent and was framed after
he inadvertently crossed the border in an inebriated state.

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has indicated that
Pakistan could consider pardoning Sarabjit if relations
between India and Pakistan improved.

Asked about Sarabjit's case, Qureshi told a TV channel:
"When you sit and hold discussions in a good environment,
everything is possible. The sky is the limit." PTI RHL
SAK