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Pak govt killed Sarabjit, alleges his former jail inmate

Kashmir Times. Dated: 5/6/2013 12:22:20 AM

MUMBAI, May 5 (Agencies): It is not destiny, but the Pakistan government which claimed the life of Sarabjit Singh, according to a resident of Ahmednagar, who spent time with him in Lahore jail, and was released last year.
"Sarabjit was homesick. He longed to return to India," Bhanudas Karale, who was released from Kot Lakhpat Jail in Lahore on June 15 last year, said.
Karale was arrested for accidentally straying into the Pakistani territory on August 28, 2010.
"He was a very kind-hearted person. He behaved nicely not only with Indian prisoners, but also with Pakistani inmates," Karale told PTI from Ahmednagar. "But Pakistani prisoners used to trouble us," he added.
Karale said he was shocked to hear of Sarabjit's death after an assault on him in jail. "I was in the same jail with Sarabjit but the Pakistani authorities had imposed severe restrictions on him, considering him a spy," he said.
"It was not destiny but the Pakistan government, which claimed his life," Karale said.
"When we were released, Sarabjit was very happy. He also longed to be home. Actually, he should have been released before us, but that did not happen, and he lost his life due to the lack of communication and coordination between India and Pakistan authorities," Karale said.
The Committee noted that names of several prisoners had been dropped from the successive lists of prisoners, believed to be Indian, shared by Pakistan twice every year.
It has recommended that Pakistan provide a formal verification to India and vice versa if any names were left out from the previous list of prisoners, so that each side could follow up on each case and discrepancy in the lists maintained by the two sides could be reduced.
The panel said the 'Consular Access Agreement' between the two governments be implemented in letter and spirit and consular access must be provided within three months of the arrest and not after completion of the prisoners' jail terms.
Complete details of charges on the prisoners and a copy of court's judgement of the sentence should be shared in each case, it said.
Consular access be provided to all prisoners and fishermen who are believed to be Indian, in Pakistani jails and vice versa, every year, at least four times, namely in the first weeks of February, May, August and November, the panel said.