By Bernama,
Islamabad : Indian national Sarabjit Singh, who is on death row for alleged involvement in bomb attacks in Pakistan, could get a reprieve as the Pakistani government is examining a proposal to commute all death sentences to life terms, Press Trust of India (PTI) reported quoting a leading human rights activist Ansar Burney as saying on Friday.
Burney, the former human rights minister, said he had been informed by a “knowledgeable and responsible source” that the Law Ministry had sent a “summary” or formal proposal to the Interior Ministry to convert all death sentences to life imprisonment.
“If this move is cleared by the Interior Ministry, it will apply to all cases of prisoners awarded death sentence, including Sarabjit. One cannot make a distinction by saying that a convict was involved in terrorism or that he killed more people than another convicted person,” Burney told PTI.
Burney and his rights organisation have been at the forefront of a campaign to convert all death sentences to life imprisonment.
The Ansar Burney Trust has even contended that up to 60 percent of people on death row in Pakistani jails had been wrongly convicted.
The rights activist has also made several efforts to get Sarabjit’s death sentence converted to life imprisonment.
Sarabjit was convicted for alleged involvement in four bomb attacks in Punjab province in 1990 that killed 14 people.
His mercy petitions have been rejected by Pakistan’s Supreme Court and former President Pervez Musharraf.
His family says Sarabjit is innocent and was framed after he inadvertently crossed the border in an inebriated state.
Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has indicated that Pakistan could consider pardoning Sarabjit if relations between India and Pakistan improved.
Asked about Sarabjit’s case, Qureshi told a TV channel: “When you sit and hold discussions in a good environment, everything is possible. The sky is the limit.”