Lahore, May 2 (ANI): Comatose Indian prisoner on death row Sarabjit Singh has died at Lahore's government-run Jinnah Hospital after battling for survival for nearly a week.
Media reports in Pakistan said that Sarabjit, who was viciously and violently attacked by six Pakistani prisoners in Lahore's Kot lakhpat Jail last Friday, succumbed to his injuries a couple of hours ago. Hospital authorities said that his postmortem has not been conducted as yet, and added that his body has been moved to the morgue. The authorities further said the postmortem would be conducted soon and a medical team is being constituted. Further legal formalities would be carried out accordingly.
According to reports, officials of the Indian High Commission will approach the Pakistan Government today to ask them to hand over Sarabjit's body to India for last rites.
Singh, 49, was attacked on April 26 as he left his barracks for a stroll. He suffered severe injuries to the head and torso. The Pakistani prisoners assaulted Singh with bricks and other sharp instruments. He was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit of the Jinnah Hospital where a medical board comprising senior neurosurgeons was treating him.
Singh had been incarcerated in Lahore's Kot Lakhpat jail for the past 22 years after Pakistan accused him of illegally crossing into its territory on Aug 29, 1990, and arrested him on charges of carrying out four bombings in Faisalabad, Multan and Lahore in which 14 Pakistani citizens were killed. The courts in Pakistan later sentenced him to death.
Pakistan has claimed that Singh's security was tightened after the recent execution in India of Afzal Guru, who was convicted of involvement in the 2001 terror attack on the Indian parliament.
Singh's mercy petitions were rejected by the courts and former President Pervez Musharraf.
The outgoing PPP-led government put off Singh's execution for an indefinite period in 2008. (ANI)
|
|
Comments:
