New Delhi:
The Pakistani government has agreed to India's request of consular access to Sarabjit Singh once a day, according to sources in the government. Indian officials who visited Sarabjit today say there is no change in his condition, the sources added.
The Indian death row prisoner is in a coma and battling for life at Lahore's Jinnah Hospital, after he was brutally attacked by fellow prisoners last week. Doctors attending to him said yesterday that his condition had deteriorated but denied reports that he was brain dead.
India has appealed to Pakistan that Sarabjit should be immediately released on humanitarian and sympathetic grounds.
Alternatively, India also proposed that Sarabjit be sent to a third country for proper medical treatment, a Foreign Ministry statement said, adding that "this is not the time for invoking legal reasons for not taking the right steps to save a human life."
Meanwhile, Sarabjit's sister Dalbir Kaur, who returned from Pakistan today, said "He is still alive. His body parts show some movement. I have doubts about the treatment being given to Sarabjit in Pakistan. Please save him. Bring him back to India for treatment. Take him abroad (for treatment). Please send Indian doctors to examine his condition. Just do something."
After crossing the Wagah border along with Sarabjit's wife and daughters, Ms Kaur also expressed disappointment at the Indian government's efforts on behalf of Sarabjit and said, "I am very disappointed. The Prime Minister should quit. He is unable to protect an Indian citizen."
She said her family would meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi in Delhi and urge them to help save Sarabjit's life.
Sarabjit has been on death row in Pakistan since 1990, when he was convicted for alleged involvement in a string of bomb attacks that killed 14 people in Pakistan's Punjab province. His family claims that it is a case of mistaken identity and that he was picked up after he inadvertently crossed over to Pakistani territory.