ISLAMABAD, Aug 18: A two-member bench of the Supreme Court of Pakistan on Thursday dismissed appeals filed by convict Manjeet Singh, an agent of India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), and upheld death sentences awarded to him in five cases of bomb blasts in various cities of Pakistan.

The bench comprising Justice Hamid Ali Mirza and Justice Muhammad Nawaz Abbasi rejected the appeals after hearing arguments of Abdul Hameed Rana advocate on behalf of appellant/convict Manjeet Singh and Assistant Advocate General Punjab Mrs Afshan Ghazanfar on behalf of the state.

According to prosecution Manjeet Singh had admitted his involvement in bomb blasts in Anarkali and Bhati Gate in Lahore, Bhawana Bazar in Faisalabad, in Multan and an explosion on a bus going from Lahore to Ghazi in 1990.

During the investigations he had stated that he was born in Uttar Paradesh in India and grew up in the vicinity of Agra City. He left Agra in 1972 and settled in Amritsar.

According to his confession, he joined Indian Military Intelligence in 1987 and was assigned tasks in Pakistan. Soon he became a permanent agent of RAW and in that capacity he visited Pakistan fourteen times in different years.

He was given special training of bomb-making by RAW. He got a fake ID card in of Pakistan under fake name of Khushi Muhammad in 1990.

“I was given payment by RAW at the rate of Indian Rs8,000-10,000 per blast,” he said in the admission.

Convict Manjeet Singh was arrested by Pakistan Security Forces at Kasur Border on August 30, 1990 when he was leaving Pakistan after having carried out bomb blasts.

An Anti-Terrorism Court of Punjab had awarded him death sentence on five counts which was upheld by the Lahore High Court.

He filed appeals from jail to the Supreme Court against the decision of the Lahore High Court.

The counsel of the appellant informed the court that original name of his client was Surjeet Singh and he, at the most, was a smuggler of Indian liquor into Pakistan. —APP