Surjeet Sing, not Sarabjeet Singh to be released clarifies Pakistan.

[Mr.Wick]

Islamabad: Hours after reports emerged that Pakistan was to free Indian death row prisoner Sarabjit Singh, the presidential spokesman tonight clarified that authorities had taken steps for the release of another Indian prisoner named Surjeet Singh who has been jailed for three decades.

"I think there is some confusion. First, it is not a case of pardon. More importantly, it is not Sarabjit. It is Surjeet Singh, son of Sucha Singh. His death sentence was commuted in 1989 by President (Ghulam) Ishaq (Khan) on the advice of (then premier) Benazir Bhutto," presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar told PTI.

Law Minister Farooq Naek today conveyed to the Interior Ministry that Surjeet Singh had completed his life term in jail and ought to be released and sent back to India, Mr Babar said.

"Keeping him in jail any longer will be illegal confinement," he added.

Any references to President Asif Ali Zardari in the entire matter were "out of context", the presidential spokesman said.

Surjeet Singh, currently being held in Kot Lakhpat Jail in Lahore, has been in Pakistani captivity for over 30 years. He was captured near the border with India on charges of spying during the era of military ruler Zia-ul-Haq.

Earlier in the day, Pakistani news channels had reported that President Zardari had converted Sarabjit Singh's death sentence to life imprisonment and directed authorities to release him if he had completed his prison term.

Source:http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/s...ingh-to-be-released-clarifies-pakistan-236477

Don't Know how to react, good news for some bad for some others.

 

[Zeeshan360]

Pakistan trolled India

 

[Hyde]

Pakistan trolled India

only person trolled is this

Thanks kahenka chhodana hi padta .... uska bas chalta to kab ka mardete ...

--------------------------
But I am sad to hear about this news as I feel the family of Sarbjeet Singh would be celebrating all day before they learned it's not Sarabjeet but Surjeet. I hope he'll be exchanged for another Pakistani in future

 

[yoku]

When news broke on Tuesday that Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari had signed the order of release of Sarabjit Singh, who is on death row in Pakistan for his alleged involvement in acts of terror in 1990, it had all the ingredients of a sepia-tinted, cross-border made-in-Bollywood story.

No less than the Presidential spokesman, Farhatullah Babar, had confirmed that Zardari had commuted the death sentence on Sarabjit Singh to life in prison, the equivalent of time served. Sarabjit Singh would be released after completion of the paperwork, Babar added.

Back in India, the news was received by Sarabjit Singh’s family, particularly his indefatigable sister who has been moving heaven and earth to secure her brother’s release, with understandable elation. And since the announcement had come from the office of the man on top in Pakistan, Indian officialdom accepted it at its face value. External Affairs Minister SM Krishna welcomed the order of release and thanked President Zardari.

The Pakistan army appears to have vetoed Sarabjit Singh's release. AFP

Justice Markandeya Katju, who had campaigned for Sarabjit Singh’s release, praised Zardari’s “kindness and generosity” and “act of statesmanship”.

And predictably, the announcement sent eternally optimistic ‘aman ki asha‘ peaceniks in India into a bout of premature gushing. Talking heads on television saw this as the surest sign of Pakistan’s yearning for peace, a defining moment in Indo-Pakistani detente, and as proof that the “big hearts” of “big nations” had prevailed over the pettiness of hawks on both sides.

And since the announcement had come on the same day that Indian media were feeding off the arrest of Syed Zabiuddin Ansar alias Abu Jundal, the Lashkar-e-Taiba operative who handheld the Pakistani terrorists who struck Mumbai in November 2008, a few analysts saw this as a masterstroke by the Pakistani political establishment to change the narrative.

But before the peacenik brigade had a chance to light its candles, a strong gust of Pakistani realpolitik had blown away all hopes of game-changing detente.

By midnight, Pakistani officials were putting out a vastly different narrative. It wasn’t Sarabjit Singh who would be released, but Surjeet Singh, another Indian prisoner in Pakistan who too had faced the death sentence, but which had been commuted.

The same Presidential spokesman who had proudly proclaimed the imminent release of Sarabjit Singh was covering his tracks.

“I think there is some confusion,” said presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar, with no hint of irony. “First, it is not a case of pardon. More importantly, it is not Sarabjit. It is Surjeet Singh.”

It’s worth noting that Surjeet Singh has been in jail in Pakistan since 1982 – and, as with Sarabjit Singh, there has been a campaign in Pakistan for his release. News of Surjeet Singh’s imminent release has been circulating for a while now (more here), and to that extent, it isn’t entirely a surprise.

It is the ”rollback” of Sarabjit Singh’s release at that late hour that is the twist in the tale. And yet, the the last-minute setback is entirely in line with the larger story of Pakistani politics: of the tussle between the civilian government and the military-ISI complex, and of the excessive political influence of extremist Islamist groups.



On Tuesday evening, representatives of Islamist groups in Pakistan had already begun to give voice to their sense of displeasure that Sarabjit Singh, who they claimed had carried out acts of terror in Pakistan and had killed Pakistani citizens, was being released.

The “rollback” manifestly bears the stamp of a veto by the Pakistani Army-ISI of the civilian government’s effort to respond to appeals from India for Sarabjit Singh’s release. And given the civilian government’s recent troubles with the judiciary, which in an extraordinary bout of activism had unseated Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, the Zardari government evidently backed down, preferring to live to fight another day.

Hopes for peace, on both sides of the Wagah border, are not entirely misplaced. But any prospects for peace must take into the realpolitik situation into consideration. The Zardari government has doubtless demonstrated a readiness to lower the temperture in Pakistan’s relations with India, particularly at a time when it is engaged in an existential struggle with the Pakistani military and the ISI complex for political space within Pakistan.

But with its latest snafu on Sarabjit Singh’s release, it has shown that it prefers to pick its battles with the military and the ISI and choose its timing. And that considerations of detente with India are secondary to the primary need to ensure its own survival.

It is in that sense that the excessive eagerness to read ‘aman ki asha‘ messages into the effort to release Sarabjit Singh were entirely over the top.

Even now, it isn’t entirely inconceivable that Sarabjit Singh may yet be released, sooner or later. But if and when it does come about, it would be the result of a reconciliation of the tussle for power between the civilian administration and the military within Pakistan. The candlelight brigade in India should guard against reading too much into such moves. Instead, it should read the message from Islamabad, and from Rawalpindi, which signals that there isn’t exactly a unanimous yearning for peace from within Pakistan.

 

[Pakistanisage]

I am not sure we want to release a terrorist, at least not this one. But there is another terrorist we would like to hand over to India. His name is Asif Ali baba Zardari and his band of forty thieves. Any takers from the Indian side ?

 

[MilSpec]

Damn, zardari 's a troll

 

[Roybot]

A very cruel mix up. Imagine the emotional roller coaster that Sarabjit Singh's family must have gone through.

 

[SamranAli]

Damn, zardari 's a troll

No Zardari didnt troll but got a slap on face by military... Yeah.

 

[Alfa-Fighter]

Well , PAK see India is going to take action then aman ki aasha happens and when they see India is not going to take any action then it become useless.

In India Doves prevail because our all Decision makers are all old time, this is transit time when younger decision maker comes , india towards pak will become more hard.


Sarabjit put in jail because 2-3 people said in court they saw him putting bomb. but when 2-3 people said Sayed was mastermind of mumbai attack and he was present then pak says its friction.

 

[SamranAli]

now surbajit should be hanged to please the 14 families who lost their loved ones. Terorrist should never be pardon.

 

[third eye]

No Zardari didnt troll but got a slap on face by military... Yeah.

Reiterates the point that the GOP Islamabad is only a front. GOP Rawalpindi controls the shots.

What a country.. the will of the President or PM does not run.

now surbajit should be hanged to please the 14 families who lost their loved ones. Terorrist should never be pardon.

Not understood, from what one read his sentence has been commuted to life , and he has done 22 yrs in prision.

Unless there is a U Turn on this too.

 

[karan.1970]

Basically shows who is really in control in Pakistan behind the facade of democracy

 

[jbond197]

Another display of political circus by Pakistan, they say something and then back off on the promises.

India should learn a lesson now and should never try enter in any deal on any matter with Pakistan. It's all just a losing proposition.

fvck off , Aman ki asha!!

 

[shiv]

Totally juvenile by Pak President...
Such political circus is one reason no body takes them seriously in diplomatic circles at all

 

[shiv]

totally callow act by President of Pak.... Now can we take him seriously ever ?
Fvuk the siachen talks ..