India thanks Pakistan for help in Sarabjit case

[Areesh]

ISLAMABAD: India on Thursday thanked Pakistan for the facilitation it had provided in the Sarabjit Singh case, at a time when Punjab Chief Minister Najam Sethi has ordered a judicial inquiry to fix responsibility for the murder of the Indian death row prisoner.

In Delhi Minister for External Affairs Salman Khurshid told the media that as far as future relations with Pakistan were concerned, “I think it is a big question that in coming days we will have to examine and see how do we work.”

At the Foreign Office Foreign Secretary Jalil Abbas Jillani told The News: “My Indian counterpart Ranjan Mathai telephoned me and thanked me for all the help we provided to them ever since the death row Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh was brutally attacked till the time we facilitated the arrival of a special Indian aircraft to fly back Singh’s body to India.”


In the late afternoon Jillani was personally following the procedure including giving instructions for allowing for the arrival of the special Indian aircraft to take back Singh’s body.


This telephone call from New Delhi to Jillani and statements coming from Indian TV quoting the Ministry of External Affairs saying “India and Pakistan are wedded to bilateralism and we will follow this pattern… and ruling out internationalising Sarabjit Singh’s case…,” is being seen by diplomats here as a sign of maturity between the two sides.


“India knows that it was not Pakistan that was behind the attack on Singh and though it was a condemnable act, the government did move in very quickly in an exercise of damage control,” says one diplomat.

Spokesman at the Foreign Office giving more details about the telephone call said: “The telephone call from the Indian foreign secretary was to thank us for a series of prompt actions to facilitate medical treatment, consular access to Indian officials, visa and other facilitation for his family and expeditious processing of permissions for repatriation of the body. He also thanked us for our assistance and facilitation on humanitarian grounds.”

Sethi, according to media reports from Lahore, said in a meeting with Indian High Commissioner Sharat Sabharwal that a judicial inquiry will fix responsibility for the murder and immediate action will be taken after that.

Police Thursday added murder charges to an FIR registered against two death row prisoners — Amer Aftab and Mudassar — booked for attacking Sarabjit.


Sethi said: “I believe in a peaceful relationship with India as people-to-people contacts will help improve relations between the two countries.”

He said both countries need to fight poverty and direct their energies towards economic progress of the people.

Earlier, the spokesman at the Foreign Office said: “Sarabjit Singh, who was hospitalised on Friday, April 26, following injuries sustained during a scuffle with fellow inmates, expired at Jinnah Hospital, Lahore. The prisoner, who had been in a comatose state and on a ventilator for the last few days, was being provided best treatment available and the medical staff at Jinnah Hospital had been working round the clock since his hospitalisation to save his life. However, despite their best efforts, they could not save him and Sarabjit Singh passed away due to cardiac arrest.


“The Government of Pakistan, which had been providing all assistance to the family of Sarabjit Singh as well as to the Indian authorities since the occurrence of this unfortunate incident, will continue to facilitate early completion of all formalities and hand over the mortal remains of the prisoner to the Indian High Commission at the earliest possible.”

Earlier Khurshid commented on the human element of the cost of hostility between the two countries.

“For the present, I can only say that it is a terrible psychological and emotional setback to all of us and I believe to what we have been trying to do in terms of creating greater cohesion between people of India and people of Pakistan,” he told the media.


Khurshid said: “Governments can sometimes disagree, governments can sometimes sit together and talk but a sustainable and long-lasting relationship has to be between people and I think that today has been very, very sadly, in a very distressing manner, that is a relationship that has been hurt by this terrible tragedy.”

The Indian minister said: “I hope that this terrible event and this tragedy will contribute something to at least the understanding of the human element of the cost of hostility between our two countries.

India thanks Pakistan for help in Sarabjit case - thenews.com.pk

 

[Areesh]

Apparently Indian govt also doesn't want to prolong this issue any further. Nobody wants to talk more about its own dead terrorist and unveil old stories. Sensible behavior by GoI. Much appreciated.

 

[darkinsky]

india you are

 

[MilSpec]

Apparently Indian govt also doesn't want to prolong this issue any further. Nobody wants to talk more about its own dead terrorist and unveil old stories. Sensible behavior by GoI. Much appreciated.

It almost seems that entire pakistani factionjust by labelling an innocent man as a terrorist want to turn his sham case intoa legit one.
every one knows how pathetically the case was handled, Witness on record made a mockery out of your justice system, witness statements weren't recorded under oath in front of the magistrate, suspect wasn't produced in front of the magistrate.
and still all pakistani proudly say ...oooh we caught a terrorist...

The real terrorists are bombing pakistan day and night, in full public view, dragging people from buses and butchering them on tape, beheading journalists but all pakistanis here are busy celebrating brutal extra judicial murder of falsely accused simpleton, whose only fault was crossing the border when inebriated....

very disappointing !!

 

[Areesh]

It almost seems that entire pakistani factionjust by labelling an innocent man as a terrorist want to turn his sham case intoa legit one.
every one knows how pathetically the case was handled, Witness on record made a mockery out of your justice system, witness statements weren't recorded under oath in front of the magistrate, suspect wasn't produced in front of the magistrate.
and still all pakistani proudly say ...oooh we caught a terrorist...

The real terrorists are bombing pakistan day and night, in full public view, dragging people from buses and butchering them on tape, beheading journalists but all pakistanis here are busy celebrating brutal extra judicial murder of falsely accused simpleton, whose only fault was crossing the border when inebriated....

very disappointing !!

He was a convicted terrorist. Period.

 

[MilSpec]

He was a convicted terrorist. Period.

 

[deckingraj]

Apparently Indian govt also doesn't want to prolong this issue any further. Nobody wants to talk more about its own dead terrorist and unveil old stories. Sensible behavior by GoI. Much appreciated.

Just one question...do you condemn the way he was murdered or support it?? i am not very active these days so can't vouch for it but so far haven't seen Pakistani friends criticizing GOP for failing to protect him..

 

[Areesh]

Just one question...do you condemn the way he was murdered or support it?? i am not very active these days so can't vouch for it but so far haven't seen Pakistani friends criticizing GOP for failing to protect him..

I have seen several times before on this forum. I wanted him to be hanged and shouldn't have died the manner he died. The two murderers should be hanged.

However that doesn't mean that sarabjit wasn't a terrorist.

Stupid pictures aren't going to prove anything. Sarabjit was a convicted terrorist and was not just another villager who strayed into Pakistan.

 

[MilSpec]

Stupid pictures aren't going to prove anything. Sarabjit was a convicted terrorist and was not just another villager who strayed into Pakistan.

Shouldn't the witness now be prosecuted, because he on record said that your so called "terrorist" is innocent, and he had to give the statement under duress due to the police?????

If your justice system could make a murderer out of ZA bhutto, what chance did this poor simpleton stand???

 

[Areesh]

Shouldn't the witness now be prosecuted, because he on record said that your so called "terrorist" is innocent, and he had to give the statement under duress due to the police?????

That should be done. Yes.

If your justice system could make a murderer out of ZA bhutto, what chance did this poor simpleton stand???

Same can be said for Indian judiciary. The fact is you got to accept the decision of the judiciary or prove it wrong in the court.

By the way ZA bhutto was involved in various deaths. Indirectly at the minimum. But that's another topic.

 

[Strigon]

Stupid pictures aren't going to prove anything. Sarabjit was a convicted terrorist and was not just another villager who strayed into Pakistan.

Buddy you are wasting your time arguing with a person if the spy was proven guilty or not. These Indians are always very selective in which deaths they want make a drama and which ones to slide under the rug. Apparently, death of person on death sentence is more important than a 4 year old sweetheart who dies in a hospital. For all we know this girl could have been next PM of India yet you see little outcry in comparison.

They really care too less for their own young being raped by sex deprived horny bastards and celebrate old war heros who got nothing left to contribute society, their decline has already begun.

 

[MilSpec]

Same can be said for Indian judiciary. The fact is you got to accept the decision of the judiciary or prove it wrong in the court.

NO, because when our security agencies tried to scapegoat some innocent chaps as usual suspects in the samjhota express blasts, the system threw the evidence out and investigators found the real suspects and legal proceedings took place. Thats the difference.

 

[deckingraj]

I have seen several times before on this forum. I wanted him to be hanged and shouldn't have died the manner he died. The two murderers should be hanged.

However that doesn't mean that sarabjit wasn't a terrorist.

I am not challenging if he was a terrorist or not...Indeed the way he have been tried has lot of questions around it..however it is good that you condemn the manner he was murdered...

 

[MilSpec]

Buddy you are wasting your time arguing with a person if the spy was proven guilty or not. These Indians are always very selective in which deaths they want make a drama and which ones to slide under the rug. Apparently, death of person on death sentence is more important than a 4 year old sweetheart who dies in a hospital. For all we know this girl could have been next PM of India yet you see little outcry in comparison.

They really care too less for their own young being raped by sex deprived horny bastards and celebrate old war heros who got nothing left to contribute society, their decline has already begun.

The difference here mate is , no sane person in India is celebrating the death of innocent victims of brutal rape, but most pakistani here are indeed celebrating the extra judicial killing of prisoner in pakistan.

 

[deckingraj]

Criticising is a good thing however when being done without an iota of knowledge in the subject is very wrong...

Buddy you are wasting your time arguing with a person if the spy was proven guilty or not. These Indians are always very selective in which deaths they want make a drama and which ones to slide under the rug. Apparently, death of person on death sentence is more important than a 4 year old sweetheart who dies in a hospital. For all we know this girl could have been next PM of India yet you see little outcry in comparison.

They really care too less for their own young being raped by sex deprived horny bastards and celebrate old war heros who got nothing left to contribute society, their decline has already begun.

Little outcry??? Man u can't be more wrong....As far as this particular incident is concerned then it is very serious because this is not just one off case...It is going to have cascading effect and by the time i am writing this news have already came that a Pakistani inmate has been beaten in Jammu....