Sarabjit: Identity stamp

New Delhi, Sept. 5: India has finally acknowledged Sarabjit Singh to be one of its nationals and has conveyed this to Pakistani authorities.

Singh, who is lodged in a Pakistani jail, has been sentenced to death by the Supreme Court of that country for allegedly being an agent of India’s Research and Analysis Wing and being involved in blasts that killed several people.

“The nationality of Sarabjit Singh has now been established. It has been confirmed that he is an Indian national,” foreign ministry spokesperson Navtej Sarna said this afternoon.

The confirmation comes at a time when the witness in Pakistan on whose assertion Sarabjit was convicted has retracted his statement and said he was made to confess under duress.

The Indian establishment is still cagey about making statements on whether Sarabjit is innocent and whether or not his is a case of “mistaken identity” as has been claimed by his family and his Pakistani lawyer.

However, Sarna said Delhi has already conveyed to Islamabad that Sarabjit is an Indian.

Sources said it is still unlikely that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh or other senior Indian leaders would seek clemency for Sarabjit from President Pervez Musharraf.

He has already spent 15 years in Pakistani prisons and for the first time last week Indian officials were given consular access to him.

Indian officials, after their hour-long meeting with Sarabjit, were not sure whether what he said is true. Documents, including letters that Sarabjit wrote to his family in Punjab and the assessment of the Indian high commission in Islamabad, was sent to South Block on Friday.

The letters and other details were handed over to Punjab police, which have confirmed that Sarabjit is indeed an Indian.

Officials said the next steps will depend on what Sarabjit’s lawyer in Pakistan and family members in Punjab decide. There is a possibility that his lawyer may seek a review of his trial before the Supreme Court to prove his innocence. If that fails, his family members may seek pardon from Musharraf.

However, it is unlikely that the government may get involved in the process and start negotiating directly with Islamabad at this juncture.

Joining the growing chorus from different parts of the country for Sarabjit’s release, representatives of Delhi’s Shahi Imam met Pakistan high commission officials during the day to plead for the “innocent” Indian who has been falsely implicated in Pakistan.