Sarabjit’s sister goes on fast

Urges his transfer for better treatment; Family to meet Union home minister

Sarabjit Singh’s sister on Monday went on fast demanding that her brother, who is battling for life after a brutal assault in a Pakistani jail, be shifted to India or abroad for better treatment.

“I am upset with the Indian Government as it never took stern step to save my brother. I will not eat food till he is repatriated to India or shifted to a hospital abroad for a better treatment,” said Dalbir Kaur, who came back to India on Wednesday after meeting his brother 49year-old Sarabjit, who is comatose in a Lahore hospital.

She said Sarbjit’s life can be saved if the Indian government puts pressure on Pakistan to shift him to this country or abroad for better treatment.

“I want the government to immediately step in. I want to bring him back. If Malala (Yousafzai) can be treated abroad, why not my brother? I have doubts about the treatment they are giving to him but I have full confidence in the doctors back home,” Kaur said.

Sarabjit’s wife Sukhpreet Kaur, daughters Poonam and Swapandeep Kaur and Dalbir crossed over into India from Lahore through Attari.

The family will travel to Delhi on Thursday and meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, external affairs minister Salman Khurshid, Union home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde and urge them to help save Sarabjit’s life by taking necessary st eps.

Meanwhile, India has once again asked Pakistan to release Sarabjit Singh.

In Islamabad, Indian high commissioner Sharat Sabharwal met Pakistan foreign secretaryJalil Abbas Jilani on Wednesday to urge the Pakistan government to release Sarabjit immediately for best available treatment and that this is not the time for invoking “legal and bureaucratic reasons”.