Islamabad: A petition has been filed in a
Pakistani court to direct the government that President Asif Ali Zardari should not pardon Indian national Sarabjit Singh,
currently on a death row following his conviction for alleged
involvement in bomb attacks two decades ago.
The petition was filed by Rana Ilamuddin Ghazi in the
Lahore High Court.
Ghazi claimed any move by the President to pardon a
murder convict under Article 45 of the Constitution would go
against the Quran and Sunnah, which say that nobody except the
heirs or family of a victim have the power or right to pardon
a murderer.
The teachings of Islam demand that Article 45 must
be removed from the Constitution by declaring it as against
the Quran and Sunnah, he claimed.
Ghazi claimed that Dalbir Kaur, the sister of
Sarabjit who is visiting Pakistan, is making all out efforts
to win the sympathies of the Prime Minister and President for
getting a presidential pardon for her brother.
Referring to the teachings of Islam, Ghazi claimed
Sarabjit cannot be granted a pardon by the President or
anybody except the heirs of the victims who lost their lives
in the blasts blamed on Sarabjit.
Ghazi named the President, the Home Department of
Punjab province and the Superintendent of Kotlakhpat Jail,
where Sarabjit is being held, as respondents in his petition.
Sarabjit has been on death row since he was convicted
for alleged involvement in four bomb blasts in 1990 that
killed 14 people.
His family insists that he was wrongly convicted for
the bombings.
Though he was set to be hanged in 2008, Pakistani
authorities put off his execution indefinitely after Prime
Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani intervened in the matter.
PTI
