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| Pak SC dismisses Sarabjit's review petition, faces death | | | Agencies
Islamabad, June 24: All hopes for Indian death row prisoner Sarabjit Singh faded on Wednesday as Pakistan Supreme Court dismissed his review petition and upheld the death sentence given to him for his alleged involvement in bomb attacks in 1990.
A three-member bench led by Justice Raja Fayyaz Ahmed dismissed Sarabjit's review petition on merit and upheld the death sentence awarded to him by an anti-terrorism court in 1991. The apex court gave its verdict after his counsel failed to appear in court.
Sarabjit's counsel had failed to appear in court for the past few hearings, including the last one on Monday. The Indian is lodged in the high security Kot Lakhpat jail in Lahore.
Rana Abdul Hamid, the lawyer who was representing Sarabjit, had been unable to appear in court after he was last year appointed an additional advocate general by Punjab province.
Sarabjit was set to be hanged on April one last year though authorities put off his execution indefinitely after Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani intervened in the matter.
His execution was initially deferred for 30 days by former President Pervez Musharraf. This was done so that the Pakistan People's Party-led government could review his case following India's appeal for clemency.
Pakistan's Supreme Court and Musharraf had earlier turned down Sarabjit's mercy petitions.
As all legal options have now closed for Sarabjit, the matter now rests with Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari, who, constitutionally, has the power to pardon or remit his sentence.
Incidentally, after the first rejection of the mercy plea by the SC, in October last year, then Law Minister Farooq Naek met Sarabjit in jail to examine his case so that President Asif Ali Zardari could take a decision on the issue.
But, President Zardari has so far failed to take any decision in this regard amidst fears that granting pardon to him would aggravate problems for his government at the domestic front. Moreover, the relationship with India is close to its all time low following the Mumbai attacks and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s not-so-kind words for Zardari when they recently met in Russia.
It also remains to be seen whether, India is willing to go that extra mile and ask Pakistan through diplomatic channels for a rethink on the matter.
Meanwhile, Minister of State (MoS) for External Affairs Praneet Kaur is scheduled to meet Union External Affairs Minister SM Krishna to discuss the development and the future course of action.
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