The Hindu : Front Page : Pakistan decision on prisoners sends wave of relief in Punjab

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Sunday, Jun 22, 2008
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Pakistan decision on prisoners sends wave of relief in Punjab

Sarabjit Pandher

Sister hopes Sarabjit Singh, who is on death row, will be repatriated soon

CHANDIGARH: The decision of the Pakistan government to commute the sentences of all prisoners on death row to life term has generated a wave a relief on this side of the border, especially in Amritsar, where the family of Sarabjit Singh now began to hope that they would be able to have him amid them once again.

Pakistan’s human rights activist Ansar Burney on Friday called up Dalbir Kaur, sister of Sarabjit Singh, to inform her that Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani had announced in the National Assembly that the Interior Ministry would be asked to move a summary to President Pervez Musharraf to commute the sentences of those on death row to life imprisonment.

While expressing her family’s gratitude to Mr. Gilani, Ms. Kaur said she hoped the retired General Musharraf would be kind enough to commute the sentences of those on death row. If Mr. Musharraf took a speedy decision, Sarabjit could be repatriated soon and she could tie ‘Rakhi’ in August, she said.

Ms. Kaur highlighted the “significant role” by Mr. Burney and thanked Pakistan’s former Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif, and Pakistan Peoples Party co-chairman Asif Zardari for their positive inputs.

Meanwhile, Punjab’s Information and Public Relations Minister, Bikram Singh Majithia, who is also the patron of the Youth Akali Dal, thanked Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Mr. Burney for their vital roles in saving at least two Punjabis from the gallows in Pakistan.

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