NEW DELHI, Sept 13: An Indian national on death row in Pakistan convicted as a spy and of setting bombs that killed several people could get mercy from the victims’ families, Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri said in an interview broadcast on Tuesday.
Mr Kasuri told the Hindi news channel Aaj Tak in New York that the fate of Sarbajeet Singh, kept in a Lahore prison, could be decided by the relatives of those killed.
“Under Islamic law... a death sentence can be commuted into life sentence if the relatives of the dead agree,” he said.
This case “will become a test case in Pakistan itself,” he added.
Sarbajeet’s conviction and death sentence were upheld by the Supreme Court last month and prompted his relatives and the Indian government to call for a review of the case by President Pervez Musharraf.
Last week, Gen Musharraf said in an interview that no decision had been taken on pleas he had received to revoke the death sentence.
“This is a serious issue. The man has carried out terrorist attacks and killed people here. Now should I have sympathy towards him?” Gen Musharraf said.
“Irrespective of what his family is thinking or how they are approaching their leadership in India, the man has killed people here, so one has to take a decision in a deliberate manner,” he said.
At the same time, he added, “I am basically a person who shows compassion and mercy.”
Sarbajeet’s relatives say he is a farmer from Punjab who crossed the border into Pakistan 15 years ago while drunk and then was confused with a man named Manjit Singh, whom Pakistan blames for a series of bombings in Lahore in 1990.—AFP
