New Delhi:
A special plane has reached Pakistan to bring back the body of Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh, who was attacked in a Lahore jail and died this morning at a local hospital. The flight-back has been delayed due to some formalities that need to be completed.
Here are the latest developments in this story:
In Lahore, the Pakistan government has handed over Sarabjit Singh's body to Indian officials. The body will be flown to Amritsar this evening and will then be taken in a chopper to Bhikhiwind his ancestral village where last rites will be performed tomorrow. (Read)
The Punjab government has declared Sarabjit Singh a martyr and has said it will ensure he is given a state funeral. (Read)
His family has reached Amritsar to receive the body. An emotional Dalbir Kaur, Mr Singh's sister, accused the Pakistan government today of complicity in the fatal attack on the 49-year-old. "Pakistan stabbed India in the back," she said in Delhi. (Read)
The Prime Minister has in a statement said that "It is particularly regrettable that the government of Pakistan did not heed the pleas of the government of India, Sarabjit's family and of civil society in India and Pakistan to take a humanitarian view of this case" and that "criminals responsible for the barbaric and murderous attack on Sarabjit must be brought to justice."
Murder charges have been filed today against two of the prisoners who allegedly attacked Mr Singh. The chief minister of Punjab province in Pakistan has announced a judicial inquiry. (Read)
In a statement, Pakistan called Sarabjit's death an "unfortunate incident." (Read)
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi visited Mr Singh's family in Delhi today and was seen hugging Dalbir Kaur. He reportedly wept. (Read)
Sarabjit Singh was hit with bricks by six men in jail on Friday evening and was brought comatose to hospital, where doctors warned that he was unlikely to recover.
The Indian government had made three formal appeals to the Pakistan government since Friday, asking for him to be sent home. In a strong statement today, the Indian government said, "This was, put simply, the killing of our citizen while in the custody of Pakistan jail authorities."
Mr Singh had been in jail for the last 22 years after being convicted of terrorism charges. He was given the death sentence in 1991 for bombings a year earlier in Lahore and Faisalabad in which 14 people were killed. His family says this conviction was a case of mistaken identity.
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