Musharraf: Last resort

Chandigarh, Aug. 22: The ropes are ready. If President Pervez Musharraf does not grant death-row Sarabjit Singh his life, his family of five will hang themselves.

“I will first take care of the others and then kill myself. It is better for all of us to die once and for all than to live death each day. Sadda rab hun sirf Musharraf hain (Our God is only Musharraf now),” cried Sarabjit’s sister Dalbir over phone from Bhikiwind, not very far from Amritsar.

Sarabjit was suspected to be a RAW agent and sentenced to death in October 1990 by a Pakistani anti-terror court for involvement in a series of blasts. Last week, Pakistan’s Supreme Court upheld the sentence.

“We have no hope other than to seek clemency from Musharraf. It is only he who can save him. We wrote to him on Saturday. We wrote asking him to think about his daughters. We wrote to him to stop an innocent man from going to the gallows,” Dalbir said.

“We wrote to him for justice to halt the hanging of a person who had crossed the border on the Khem Karan Khalra side on August 25, 1990, in an inebriated state and was implicated in a false case.”

According to Dalbir, her entire family ? her brother’s wife Sukhpreet, daughters Swapandweep and Poonam as well as her husband and herself ? had decided to hang themselves the moment they heard last week that Sarabjit’s sentence had been upheld.

She said her family did not have much faith in either the Punjab or the Indian government as neither had lent them an ear for the past 15 years. Sarabjit was never a RAW agent, she said.

“The government did nothing all these years. Nobody came to our rescue. We were pushed aside whenever we went to the Wagah border post seeking information about him,” she said.

“It is only Musharraf who can be God for us. He should realise how the gesture will help ties between India and Pakistan.”

Sukhpreet said the family had furnished proof that Sarabjit was being hanged due to a mistaken identity. His birth certificate, voter ID and ration card had been handed to Pakistan rights activist Asma Jehangir, she said.

“He was Sarabjit Singh and never Manjeet Singh. They (the documents) were submitted to the Pakistani authorities. But he was still tried and punished as Manjeet Singh,” she said.

The South Asia Human Rights Group in Canada will be delivering the letter Sarabjit’s family has written to Musharraf.

“If President Musharraf cannot overrule the death sentence, he can surely grant clemency. He will be saving five more lives,” Dalbir said.

Lodged in Kot Lakhpat Rai jail since 1990, Sarabjit’s only communication with his family has been through letters he writes to his sister.

“In one of his letters, he mentioned his death and doubted if he would ever be able to enjoy freedom. We will be with him if he dies,” Sukhpreet said, her voice choking.

The Punjab government today issued a communiqu? saying it had taken “serious note” of Sarabjit’s sentence and appealed to the Centre to intervene through diplomatic channels for his release.

A Punjab government official said there was little India could do to save Sarabjit.

“It is a tricky situation. If we seek his pardon, Pakistan would seek a similar response on terrorists operating in Kashmir. Will the Centre adhere to the Pakistani request then?” he asked.