By IANS
New Delhi : The family of Sarabjit Singh, facing death sentence in Pakistan April 1, met with Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi Monday to request him to ask the Indian government take up the matter with Islamabad.
According to a member of the family, they met Gandhi around 11 a.m. and the meeting lasted for over 30 minutes.
“He listened to us very nicely and assured us that he will speak to his mother (Congress president Sonia Gandhi) and to the prime minister (Manmohan Singh) on this issue,” Sarabjit Singh’s brother-in-law Baldev Singh told IANS.
He said they still awaited communication from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) on their request for a meeting with Manmohan Singh. “We haven’t heard anything from there yet. But we are hopeful,” said Baldev Singh.
Sarabjit’s sister Dalbir Kaur has been making the rounds of major media houses here to drum up public opinion to put pressure on the Indian government to take up the matter with Pakistan.
Pakistani media reported Sunday that the black warrant has been delivered to Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat prison, where Sarabjit Singh is interred on the charges of spying, and his date for hanging was set for April 1. He has been convicted in Pakistani courts for involvement in four bomb blasts in 1990.
The sudden development comes after India handed over the remains of Pakistani national Khalid Mehmood who was arrested for spying. His family claimed that Mehmood merely went to India to watch cricket matches when he was picked up by Indian security agencies.
Sarabjit Singh’s family had got some hope after Kashmir Singh was released from prison after 35 years in Pakistani jails this month. But Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf had rejected his mercy petition.