By IANS
New Delhi : The government is taking every step to save the life of Sarabjit Singh, an Indian prisoner sentenced to death in Pakistan, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi said Tuesday.
“Prime Minster’s Office is dealing with it every hour, every minute,” Dasmunsi told the Lok Sabha.
He, however, expressed reservations over some of the MPs’ demand to pass a resolution in the lower house of the parliament seeking Sarabjit’s release from Pakistani custody.
“To pass a resolution on the judgement of a court is never heard of but we are taking up the issue at every level,” he told the MPs.
External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said: “India has received no formal intimation” about Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf’s decision to turn down Sarabjit’s mercy petition.
Mukherjee said according to press reports the black warrant has been issued and the death sentence would be carried out April 1.
Pointing out that India and Pakistan had certain institutional arrangements to facilitate the resolution of consular issues, Mukherjee said: “It is in this context and in the same spirit that we appeal to the government of Pakistan to treat Sarabjit Singh’s case with clemency on humanitarian grounds.”
Lok Sabha members were unanimous in urging the government to intervene and save the life of the Indian.
Gurudas Dasgupta of the Communist Party of India appealed to the newly elected members of Pakistan’s National Assembly to put pressure on the “dictatorial chief” of Pakistan to save the life of Sarabjit as goodwill to the people of India.
S.S. Dhindsa of the Shiromani Akali Dal, Roopchand Pal the Communist Party of India-Marxist, V.K. Malhotra of the Bharatiya Janata Party, Ramjilal Suman of the Samajwadi Party and Brij Kishore Tripathy of the Biju Janata Dal also asked the government to take firm steps to seek Sarabjit’s release.