Sarabjit Singh moves Pakistan Supreme Court to reopen his case

Sarabjit Singh, an Indian national on a death row in Pakistan for alleged involvement in terrorism, has moved the Supreme Court (SC) of that country seeking to reopen his case.

Filing a petition on his behalf before the Lahore registry of SC, lawyer Awais Sheikh maintained that the real culprit of the bomb blasts in Pakistan in 1990 was Manjeet Singh.

He claimed Manjeet, an alleged international swindler, terrorist and a member of a crime syndicate, was arrested in India in December 2010. Manjeet, a frequent visitor to Pakistan, was present in the country when the blasts took place, he said.

Sheikh claimed Sarabjit, who is lodged in Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat Jail, was a victim of false identification and prayed to the court to order reopening and re-adjudication of the matter.
SC, however, did not fix a date to hear the petition.

Sarabjit Singh, aka Jaljit Singh, was convicted of involvement in the 1990 serial bomb blasts in Lahore and Multan that killed 14 people. He claims to be a poor farmer. Sarabjit was awarded death by a Lahore anti-terrorism court in October 1991. His review plea was quashed by SC in September, 2005, on the ground that it was not filed within the period mentioned in law.

In March 2006, a two-member SC bench dismissed Sarabjit’s petition against his conviction in the Lahore Yakki Gate bomb blast of 1990. His mercy plea was also rejected by then president Pervez Musharraf in 2008 and he was to be hanged on March 31.

But his hanging was deferred on the intervention of India.