Islamabad/New Delhi:
The Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan, Sharat Sabharwal, has met the Pakistan Foreign Secretary Jalil Abbas Jilani today and requested Islamabad to immediately release Sarabjit Singh on humanitarian and sympathetic grounds.
Alternatively, India has also proposed that Sarabjit Singh 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." (
Read MEA's full statement)
Meanwhile, Sarabjit's family, which was in Pakistan to visit him, has returned to India today. They had been given emergency visas by Pakistan to visit the Indian death row prisoner who is in a coma and battling for life at Lahore's Jinnah Hospital, after he was brutally attacked by fellow prisoners last week. (
Watch: Sarabjit's family returns to India)
Yesterday, doctors attending on him had said that Sarabjit's condition had deteriorated but denied reports that he was brain dead.
His sister, Dalbir Kaur 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 1991, 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.