Pak counsel for Sarabjit passes away in Sweden
: Noted Pakistani lawyer Awais Sheikh (67), who was the counsel for Indian national Sarabjit Singh who was killed in a Pakistani jail in 2013, passed away in Sweden on Monday.
Sarabjit, a native of Bhikhiwind village in Tarn Taran district, was awarded death sentence for spying charges and killing at least 14 Pakistani citizens in bomb blasts in Punjab province in 1990.
Two Pakistani death row prisoners — Amir Sarfraz, alias Tamba, and Mudassar — in May 2013 had attacked Sarabjit, 49, in the Kot Lakhpat jail in Lahore and killed him.
Awais’s son Shahrukh disclosed the news of his death on Facebook Monday night. “He left us for his heavenly home early this morning in Sweden,” he said in a message posted on the Facebook account of his father.
Shahrukh did not disclose the cause of the death, but according to Sarabjit’s sister Dalbir Kaur, who spoke to Awais’s wife over phone on Monday evening, he suffered a heart attack and was declared brought dead by the doctors at a hospital.
Notably, Awais was a known counsel of Indian prisoners in Pakistan and fought Sarabjit’s case for four years from 2010 until the latter’s death in 2013.
After Awais and his son were kidnapped in May 2013 by unidentified men from an area near the Indian border, they sought political asylum and moved to Sweden in October, 2013, due to threats to his life and that of his
AMRITSAR
family members in Pakistan.
In 2009 British lawyer Jas Uppal launched an online campaign “freesarabjitsingh.com” to highlight the case and requested human rights groups to intervene on his behalf. Awais supported the campaign and provided his services free of charge.
I HAVE LOST MY SECOND BROTHER: DALBIR KAUR
Mourning over the death, Dalbir Kaur said she had called Awais just a few hours prior to his death. “When I had talked him, he fine. He was laughing and happy. He expressed his desire to visit India to meet us and also go to Lahore, his home town, to see his relatives and friends. He also spoke to Sarabjit’s elder daughter Swapandeep,” Dalbir said.
“When I was conveyed the news of his death by a member of his family, I could not believe,” she said. Dalbir added that he was not a lawyer, but her second border. “I have lost my second brother as well,” she added.