Pak court summons all witnesses on Oct 5

LAHORE : A court in Pakistan on Wednesday summoned all the witnesses on October 5 in the murder case of Indian national Sarabjit Singh, who was killed by fellow inmates in Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat jail in 2013.

Sarabjit had died after two death row prisoners — Amir Sarfraz alias Tamba and Mudassar — in May 2013 attacked Sarabjit (49) in the jail. Sarabjit was sentenced to death for his alleged involvement in a string of bombings in 1990 in the country’s eastern Punjab province.

Lahore’s additional district and sessions judge Muhammad Moin Khokhar, during the hearing of the case, expressed anger as none of the prosecuting witnesses appeared in the court to record their statement.

A court official said so far, two witnesses of the Kot Lakhpat jail have recorded their statements.

“One of the witnesses in the previous hearing had told the court that Sarabjit was brought to the Services Hospital in a critical condition. I wanted to record Singh’s statement but the doctors stopped him, terming his condition very serious,” the official said.

A one-man judicial commission of a Lahore high court judge had initially investigated Sarabjit’s murder case before the trial started in the sessions court. The judge recorded the statements of some 40 witnesses in the case and submitted report to the government which is yet to make its findings public. The commission had also issued notices to Sarabjit’s relatives to record their statements and produce any evidence they had regarding his death.

However, Sarabjit’s family did not record their statements.