Kalam to talk to Musharraf about Sarabjit
by Chandrika Jain

      New Delhi: President APJ Abdul Kalam today met Dalbir Kaur, the elder sister of Pakistan death row inmate Sarabjit Singh, and assured her that he would personally talk to Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf to seek a pardon for Singh. Kalam met Kaur and Sarabjit's daughter Poonam for about 20 minutes at his official residence. "Dr Kalam assured us that he would talk to Musharraf and said that he had been informed that the issue would be taken up in the Pakistan Assembly. He said that he would also discuss the matter with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh," Dalbir Kaur told reporters after meeting the President. "We met him and presented each and every detail about the case as there was no point in hiding anything. I told Dr. Kalam that my brother is living a terrible life in jail without any evidence and proof given during the proceedings," she added. Dalbir said she also appealed to Dr. Kalam to approach the UPA Government to grant her a passport so that she could meet her brother after getting appropriate visa clearance from Pakistan. "Dr. Kalam has asked me to file a request in relation to the need of passport and today I submitted an application regarding this. I am hoping that I would get a passport soon," she said. Talking to reporters she also said that the Pakistan Government is yet to receive a petition from the Indian Government to grant Sarabjit pardon.

    Sarabjit, who has been in Lahore's Kot Lakhpat Jail since 1992, has been charged with spying and for perpetrating bomb blasts in Lahore, Faisalabad and Multan in which 14 people were killed in 1990-91. Last month, the Supreme Court in Pakistan rejected Sarabjit's appeal to have his death sentence commuted. His family, however, is of an opinion that he is a victim of mistaken identity. On April 4, Sarabjit's daughter wrote a letter to Musharraf and pleaded for mercy for her father. Referring to Musharraf as uncle, she said in her letter that since she had not seen her father since birth, mercy should be granted on humanitarian grounds. In her letter she said that by extending mercy to Sarabjit, Musharraf could give life not only to the guilty but to the whole family. Although Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during his recent visit to Amritsar on March 24 assured the family that he would take up the issue with Pakistan President, no progress had been made as yet. Dalbir said Last date of mercy appeal was April 9 and Sarabjit had already filed it.

    Making a reference to Kerala's Abdul Latif Naushad, who was convicted of damaging the eye of a Saudi man during a scuffle in 2003, Dalbir said that if the Government through its intervention was successful to save Naushad of the punishment, which accorded eye for an eye according to the laws of the land in Saudi Arabia, even Sarabjit could be freed. Dalbir said although Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during his recent visit to Amritsar on March 24 assured the family that he would take up the issue with Pakistan President, no progress had been made as yet. She said that the last date of mercy appeal was April 9 and Sarabjit had already filed it. Now the Government's must intervene, she added. Dalbir had also sought the issuance of passports to visit Pakistan to make personal appeal to Musharraf.

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