PAKISTAN/INDIA: The attack in a Pakistani jail of a prisoner convicted of spying for India provokes an angry response from his family, with the incident threatening to inflame the uneasy relations between the two neighbouring nations

Record ID: 353846

  • Title: PAKISTAN/INDIA: The attack in a Pakistani jail of a prisoner convicted of spying for India provokes an angry response from his family, with the incident threatening to inflame the uneasy relations between the two neighbouring nations
  • Date: 27th April 2013
  • Summary: LAHORE, PAKISTAN (APRIL 26, 2013) (REUTERS) NIGHTSHOTS: EXTERIOR OF A HOSPITAL AMBULANCES PARKED AT THE HOSPITAL ENTRANCE SIGNBOARD READING 'ACCIDENT AND EMERGENCY' POLICE OFFICIALS WALKING IN THE HOSPITAL LOBBY LOCALS WATCHING POLICE OFFICIALS POLICE OFFICIALS STANDING GATHERING OF POLICE OFFICIALS AND HOSPITAL VISITORS MEDIA AND HOSPITAL VISITORS STANDING IN THE LOBBY AT
  • Embargoed: 12th May 2013 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Pakistan
  • Country: Pakistan
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA5FOJWO1M7P5MONBC3MFR4R446
  • Story Text: The attack of Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh in a Pakistan jail by fellow inmates threatened on Saturday (April 27) to inflame the uneasy relations between the two neighbouring nations.
    Singh was hospitalised with a serious head injury, a doctor said, after two fellow prisoners attacked him in Kot Lakhpat Jail in the eastern city of Lahore on Friday (April 26).
    The Indian prisoner's counsel Owais Sheikh spoke to media about the incident while praying for Singh's early recovery.

    "A jail inmate has attacked Sarabjit Singh and prison authorities have brought him here in serious condition. His health is critical and this incident is very disturbing. As this case is connected to the relations between India and Pakistan, I would pray that God saves Sarabjit Singh," said Owais Sheikh.
    Sarabjit's wife Sukhpreet Kaur and his daughters Swapandeep and Poonam Kaur were desperately trying to obtain visas so they could go to Pakistan.
    Poonam Kaur prayed for her father Sarabjit's speedy recovery.

    "We request the Indian government to provide us the visa immediately, so that we can go to Pakistan and get his medical treatment done and can also take good care of him," said Poonam Kaur at Jalandhar in India's northern state of Punjab on Friday.
    In Jammu, in Indian-administered Kashmir, there were angry protests over Singh's attack.
    The spokesperson of India's main opposition, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Rajiv Pratap Rudy criticised the federal government for keeping silent over this matter.
    Speaking to the media in New Delhi on Saturday (April 27) he said that the safety of Indian prisoners in Pakistan has now become a matter of grave concern.

    "Government of India is sitting quiet. The External Affairs Ministry is sitting quiet and again and again Indian convicts, who most of them are innocent, are being attacked and killed in Pakistani jail and the government of India is not responding. Is it so that the Indian diplomacy has completely failed? Is it so that the Indian government fails to protect its citizens across the borders, especially Pakistan? It's a matter of grave concern," said Rudy.
    India's junior Home (interior) Minister, Kunwar Ratanjit Pratap Narain Singh condemned the incident and said that Pakistan needs to take responsibility of the attack.

    "The federal government has been trying to ensure that Sarabjit Singh was freed. We condemn this treatment meted out to him. An Indian prisoner lodged in any jail outside India is a responsibility of that country. We have demanded an answer into the matter," said R P N Singh in New Delhi.
    Sarabjit Singh was arrested in Pakistan in 1991 and sentenced to death on charges of spying and carrying out four bomb blasts that killed 14 people. His family members say he is innocent.
    Four years ago, Pakistan's then-president Pervez Musharraf stayed the execution after appeals for clemency from India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
    Nuclear-armed India and Pakistan have fought three wars since the partition of British-ruled India in 1947, but they began a peace process in 2004.
    Despite better relations, the neighbours remain deeply suspicious of each other.
    India blamed Pakistani militants for carrying the 2008 attacks in Mumbai that killed 166 people over three days and raised questions over the involvement of Pakistani security services.
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