Killed just before winning freedom
For years, Sarabjit Singh’s family, human rights activists and the Indian government were pressing Pakistan to release him as he had spent nearly 23 years in jail amid confusion that he may not be the man Pakistan was looking for - and the delay in freeing him proved costly.
Sarabjit Singh, who Pakistan thought was Manjit Singh, was lucky enough to avoid the gallows but was not fortunate enough to return home alive.
Just as the Pakistan government was “seriously considering” to release Sarabjit Singh by commuting his death sentence into life imprisonment, a death row prisoner, also kept in a nearby cell in Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat jail, used a brick to break Sarabjit Singh’s skull and with it many hearts.
“There was nothing wrong in releasing him now but some hidden forces did not seem to be ready to let him go. The government had been seriously considering releasing him,” a highly-placed government official said.
Sarabjit’s release
could have brought Pakistan and India closer. The extremists succeeded in pushing them further apart
Another official claimed that Sarabjit Singh would have been released in the coming weeks had he not been killed by inmates.
“His killing has jolted the government. Sarabjit Singh was an individual and in Pakistan where dozens are killed on a daily basis, his death can also be easily ignored but the jail incident has shaken the government’s writ. Sarabjit Singh (after release) could have brought Pakistan and India closer and instead the extremists succeeded in pushing them further away,” the official said.
After the release of 80year-old Pakistani virologist Khalil Chishty by India, it was widely expect- ed that Pakistan would reciprocate by freeing Sarabjit Singh. We must ask too why more security was not provided to Sarabjit Singh, who had apparently been receiving threats, notably since February this year, when Afzal Guru was hanged in India. His counsel had pointed this out,” he said.
Sarabjit Singh was arrested by Pakistan Rangers in 1990 and convicted of spying and carrying out the bomb blasts and was given the death penalty in 1991. The authorities portrayed that he was ‘Manjit Singh’ and had been responsible for the four blasts which killed 14 people, and had been arrested while returning to India after carrying out the bombings. It has been reported that Manjit Singh was also later apprehended in Canada and afterwards in India.
On June 26, 2012, the President of Pakistan decided to release Sarabjit Singh but a few hours later, amidst condemnation by the Jamaat-e-Islami and the Jamaat ud Dawa (JuD), clarified that the prisoner to be released was Surjeet Singh and not Sarabjit Singh.