Sarabjit Singh gets Pakistan President Zardari's pardon, to walk free

June 26, 2012

sarabjit-singh

Islamabad, June 26: After being on the death row for 20 years over bombing charges, Indian national Sarabjit Singh is being released with Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari today commuting his death sentence.

Zardari commuted Sarabjit's death sentence to life term which he has already completed having been in jail beyond 14 years. Therefore he is being released.

The 49-year-old Sarabjit, convicted and sentenced to death for alleged involvement in a string of bombings in Punjab in 1990 that killed 14 people has maintained his innocence and said that his was a case of "mistaken identity".

Zardari has directed authorities to release him if he has completed his prison term, official sources said.

Following the summary or official proposal issued by the presidency, law minister Farooq Naek today asked the interior ministry to take steps to "immediately" release Sarabjit as he had completed a life term, the sources told PTI.

Sarabjit could be released in the next few days after the interior ministry and the home department of Punjab complete necessary formalities, the sources said.

Sarabjit is currently being held at Kot Lakhpat Jail in Lahore.

President Zardari's action came a little over a month after ailing Pakistani virologist Khalil Chishti, detained in Rajasthan for nearly two decades on the charge of involvement in a murder, was freed on the orders of India's Supreme Court so that he could meet his family in Karachi.

Sarabjit had sent a fresh clemency appeal to President Zardari last month after the release of Chishti.

The mercy petition included a document with the signatures of 100,000 Indians that urged Zardari to reciprocate the release of Chishti by India.

Two letters addressed to Zardari by the chief cleric of Delhi's Jama Masjid, Syed Ahmed Bukhari, and the caretaker of the shrine of Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti, Syed Muhammad Yamin Hashmi, were also attached to the petition.

Sarabjit has maintained that his was a case of mistaken identity, since even the FIR was not registered in his name.

"I have spent 22 years in prison for a crime I have not committed," he wrote in the petition.

Sarabjit's sister Dalbir Kaur too has contended that she has "vital evidence" which proves her brother's innocence.

Sarabjit was given the death sentence under Pakistan's Army Act. A mercy petition sent by him to the then army chief was rejected with a direction that it should be forwarded to the President.

Though Sarabjit was set to be hanged in 2008, Pakistani authorities put off his execution indefinitely after former premier Yousuf Raza Gilani intervened. His family has said he wandered across the border in an inebriated condition and was arrested by Pakistani authorities.

Reacting to the news of Sarabjit's pardon, human rights activist Ansar Burney, who has been campaigning for his release, said, "I think its great news for India, Pakistan and the family of Sarabjit. I would like to congratulate and I would also like to thank the President of Pakistan Mr Zardari.

"...It will create some more love, some more affection. It will be very good for the peace process between the two countries and the region. So its very good news. I'm very happy today that he will be with his family soon."

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Agencies
August 2,2020

New Delhi, Aug 2: Union Home Minister Amit Shah today tested positive for COVID-19 coronavirus infection and has been admitted to a hospital. 

Shah took to social media today to inform about his infection. “I have tested positive but my health is fine," he said, adding that he has been hospitalised on the assistance of doctors. 

The Union Home Minister also appealed to those who came into close contact with him in the last few days to get themselves tested for COVID-19.

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News Network
June 25,2020

New Delhi, Jun 25: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday hit out at Congress for "unceremoniously sacking" its spokesperson and said that leaders in the opposition party are "feeling suffocated".

To substantiate his point, Shah referred to the recent Congress Working Committee (CWC) meet in which senior members and younger members raised a few issues, however, they were "shut down".

Taking to Twitter, Shah posted two English dailies' articles titled -- "Not scared of PM Modi, but many in the party dodge him: Rahul at Congress Working Committee meet" and "Congress removes Sanjay Jha as party spokesperson after critical article".

Last week, Jha was dropped as AICC spokesperson and Abhishek Dutt and Sadhna Bharti appointed as National Media Panelist of Congress party.

"During the recent CWC meet, senior members and younger members raised a few issues. But, they were shouted down. A party spokesperson was unceremoniously sacked. The sad truth is - leaders are feeling suffocated in Congress," the Union Minister tweeted.

Meanwhile, Shah also targetted Congress on the completion of 45 years of emergency, which was imposed by former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on June 25, 1975 and asked the party to self introspect.

"As one of India's opposition parties, Congress needs to ask itself: Why does the Emergency mindset remain? Why are leaders who do not belong to 1 dynasty unable to speak up? Why are leaders getting frustrated in Congress? Else, their disconnect with people will keep widening," he wrote.

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Fairman
 - 
Thursday, 25 Jun 2020

Jha the spokesperson, tried to be under the payroll of BJP, so disciplinary action was imminent.

 

Discipline has no compromise.

Mohammed
 - 
Thursday, 25 Jun 2020

If i am not wrong you have already purchased suffocated leaders from congress.

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Agencies
January 12,2020

Mumbai, Jan 12: Thousands of citizens on Sunday congregated in Mumbai's suburban Jogeshwari to oppose the new citizenship law, the proposed NRC and NPR.

They also condemned last Sunday's violence on the JNU campus in Delhi, where masked men ran riot and attacked students. Leftist organisations had claimed RSS-affiliated ABVP's role in the attack, a charge denied by the students' body.

Former Tata Institute of Social Science (TISS) general secretary Fahad Ahmed told PTI that they assembled under the aegis of 'Hum Bharat Ke Log' in Millat Nagar area.

"Prime minister Narendra Modi should call 56 students from across the country to debate on the CAA, NRC and NPR," Ahmed said in an apparent jibe at Modi's "56 inch chest" remark, which the latter had made ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

"Why the PM is not talking to us? Why is he not communicating? Even the Britishers used to talk to Indians whom they ruled, but our PM is not talking to poor people," he alleged.

Bollywood actor Sushasht Singh also spoke on the occasion.

"We are people of this country and such acts (CAA) are tarnishing the image of our country," he said.

At the gathering, people waved banners with slogans like "I Am From Gujarat, My Documents Burned in 2002", "No CAA, Boycott NRC, Stop Dividing India, Don't Divide us", "Save Constitution", written on them.

A large number of police personnel were present at the venue.

The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which was notified on January 10, grants Indian citizenship to non-Muslim minorities migrated to India from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh till December 31, 2014, following persecution over their faith.

Massive protests were witnessed against the CAA, mainly by the student community, since its passage by Parliament in December last year.

Opposition parties have been dubbing the CAA an "anti-Muslim" legislation, a charge being debunked by the government.

The Congress and other parties like the TMC have also opposed the proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the National Population Register (NPR).

Union home minister Amit Shah has said that the government won't rest until persecuted refugees are granted Indian citizenship.

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