Amritsar: Disappointed by the recent mix-up over his release, Sarabjit Singh's relatives along with city residents took out a candlelight march here demanding freedom for the death row prisoner rotting behind the bars in Pakistan for over twenty years.
During the procession taken out last night, Sarabjit’s daughter Swapandeep Kaur appealed to Pakistan government to set free her father lodged in a solitary cell at Kotlakhpatrai jail for the last 22 years.
Candle march was carried out to seek help from Indian and Pakistan governments for the safe repatriation of Singh to his home town in India.
Participants in the procession were holding burning candles to spread the message of securing Singh's release.
The entire family along with the inhabitants of Bikhiwind (Sarabjit's village) humbly prey before the governments of both India and Pakistan to do the needful for the safe repatriation of my father," said Swapandeep struggling hard to hold back her tears.
Sarabjit’s wife Sukhpreet said what a disappointment it had been for the entire family when the news of his imminent release turned out to be wrong.
On March 9, 2006, a two-member Supreme Court bench of Pakistan had dismissed Singh's petition against the sentence for his alleged involvement in carrying out four bomb blasts at Lahore in 1990 that killed 14 people.
Sarabjeet, lodged in Kotlakhpat jail, was set to be hanged on April 1, 2008 but the authorities put this off after Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani sought to examine the issue.
Sarabjit Singh is called Manjit Singh in Pakistan and was arrested by Pakistan's army in 1990. Sarabjit was accused as an Indian spy and was charged with plotting a series of bomb blasts in 1989 at Lahore and Multan.
PTI
First Published: Sunday, July 01, 2012, 20:42