India to Pakistan: Show mercy to Sarabjit

Society Pakistan & World Affairs
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Why life of an Indian terrorist is more important than a Pakistani terrorist?

Show mercy to Sarabjit: Justice Katju to Pakistan - The Times of India

NEW DELHI: Press Council of India chairman Markandey Katju has once again appealed to the president and the prime minister of Pakistan to release Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh who is on death row for over two decades.

Katju’s appeal came on a day when 26/11 attack convict Ajmal Kasab was hanged in Pune following rejection of his mercy plea by President Pranab Mukherjee.

"You must have heard that Ajmal Kasab has been hanged in India. I wish to respectfully point out to you that this case is totally different from that of Sarabjit Singh who has been on death row in Pakistan for 21 years.

“About Kasab, there is no doubt about his guilt as he was caught red handed. However, there is great doubt about the guilt of Sarabjit Singh. So, the two cases are not similar,” Katju said in a letter to the Pakistan high commissioner to India Salman Bashir. He asked Bashir to convey his views to the Pakistan president and the prime minister.

Noting that he had pleaded for Sarabjit’s release in his four previous letters, Katju said, “I earnestly request you to pardon him and send him back to India”.

He said though there were no doubts that courts there have convicted Sarabjit, there were “serious flaws” in the prosecution version.

Katju said Sarabjit’s name was not even in the FIR related to the Lahore bomb blast in 1990 for which he has been convicted. He said the main prosecution witness Shaukat Salim later retracted his statement and said it was given under police pressure.

As regards his alleged confession, the PCI Chairman said Sarabjit’s own version was that he had illegally gone to Pakistan for doing liquor trade and was arrested there and falsely implicated in the bomb blast case.

" … He has already spent 21 years in death row when he does not know when he would be hanged. This is enough to drive one mad. I sincerely urge you to show mercy and exercise your power of pardon in his case," Katju said.

The Pakistani high commissioner replied to Justice Katju’s message assuring him that it would be conveyed to Islamabad.

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Re: India to Pakistan: Show mercy to Sarabjit

As much as i know he is an innocent guy according to our media.....

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Re: India to Pakistan: Show mercy to Sarabjit

I am all for his release coz he already spend 20+ years in jail.

let him go ......

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Re: India to Pakistan: Show mercy to Sarabjit

^^^ When was the last time an Indian terrorist was executed in Pakistan? Never. Btw, if you find a lawyer who drags it on forever going through appeal after appeal; mercy petition after mercy petition, and 20 years later complained that his client has served what amounts to life term & should be let go....how does that makes sense?

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Re: India to Pakistan: Show mercy to Sarabjit

He is a terrorist and Indians quite rightly believe that terrorist should be hanged, so should this guy.

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Re: India to Pakistan: Show mercy to Sarabjit

Agreed with Shamraz on this one .. only thing is I have heard in more then one places that the court case wasnt very strong against Sarabjit , they didnt have enough proof. If that is the case then the legal system needs to rectify itself and see where its falling short of delivering justice.

The most important element here is that Pakistan nor India shouldnt make a tit for tat kind of fight when human life is concerned. They hanged Kasab coz they had enough proof. Pakistan could hang Sarabjit, if they have enough proof to convict him. Law should prevail, not individual country cold wars !

My problem with this whole scenario is that Pakistan legal system isnt strong enough. first, the system allows for cases to drag for years. Secondly a person who has served that many years in prison, in itself might have served "for Life" years already and under humanitarian laws could easily get freedom. Its unfair to keep a man in prison for decades and still say he is yet to be punished !

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Re: India to Pakistan: Show mercy to Sarabjit

^^^ Well, the appeal process exist precisely for that reason to make sure that more than one judicial body can look at a case and come to an independent conclusion based on an evidence presented. In this case, his 2 appeals & 2 mercy petitions and one review petitions were all rejected by 4 separate entities and his conviction was upheld. I think thats good enough.

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Re: India to Pakistan: Show mercy to Sarabjit

yes definitely thats good enough, so why has the justice not yet been carried out? I mean, now after having gone through all the appeal processes and still concluding that he is deemed convicted , they should clearly tell him his fate and carry out the justice , like what was done in the case of Kasab.

Why are they allowing further appeals?
Sorry I dont have much clue about the Pakistani justice system, surely they cant allow endless appeals.. there must be a certain timeframe after which no more appeals can be made ?

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Re: India to Pakistan: Show mercy to Sarabjit

Well, appeal process in death penalty cases takes long time & its not just in Pakistan. The average time is about 20 years in the US. So, this is not unusual.

TIME ON DEATH ROW | Death Penalty Information Center

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Re: India to Pakistan: Show mercy to Sarabjit

Thanks for sharing the info Shamraz.

Its different here in the UK. Perhaps due to humanitarian laws. But I am actually surprised that if a criminal serves, say , 20+ years of prison while appealing but still gets hanged .. isnt this double punishment?

Does india follow a different law, how come kasab's lawyers not play the appeal card?

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Re: India to Pakistan: Show mercy to Sarabjit

stingy Indians could not provide for his Biryani anymore.

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Re: India to Pakistan: Show mercy to Sarabjit

omg, cant believe they used the word biryani in that article title !

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Re: India to Pakistan: Show mercy to Sarabjit

I am not sure about the case, if he is involved in terrorism in Pakistan as our claim then he should be punished otherwise they should release him. Why are the Indians asking for mercy if he is innocent?

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Re: India to Pakistan: Show mercy to Sarabjit

last time pakistan released an indian agent, he went back and the first thing he said was that he indeed was an agent/spy.

This guy should be hanged ASAP,because indians don't usually release even stray kids that end up indian territory.

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Re: India to Pakistan: Show mercy to Sarabjit

Do you have a sense of differentiation between the two cases?

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Re: India to Pakistan: Show mercy to Sarabjit

Dr Khalil Chishty was released recently but his case was different.

As Shamraz has pointed out, if Sarabjit has already exhausted all legal options and still stood guilty, than I guess the law of the land should take its course without any further delay. Both the countries should have zero tolerance for terrorists.

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Re: India to Pakistan: Show mercy to Sarabjit

He waited 18 years for his trial on a murder charges & when eventually convicted he spent a year in jail. The man is some 80+years old. Btw, Pakistan has released numerous Indian prisoners, but India usually sends bodies of Pakistani prisoners back.

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Re: India to Pakistan: Show mercy to Sarabjit

Personally I believe hanging is too violent. Felt the same way when the Pakistani was hanged.

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Re: India to Pakistan: Show mercy to Sarabjit

bingo!. As soon as they go to India..first thing they in fact DO is accept that they were spy. So i can care less for people like that. They should hang him and get it over with.

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Re: India to Pakistan: Show mercy to Sarabjit

If he is guilty, and they can prove it, then punish him. But the death sentence is to extreme.