Oz reassures India of efforts to improve students safety

New Delhi, June 27 (PTI) Amid continuing concerns over
attacks on Indian students, Australia on Saturday reassured
New Delhi that it would make all efforts to improve their
safety.

Australian High Commissioner John McCarthy said Canberra
is "appalled" by the "disgraceful" incidents of crime against
Indian students and all efforts are being made to ensure that
the attacks are not repeated.

In a letter to Non-Aligned Students and Youth Movement
(NASYM) chairman Subhash Chowdhary, McCarthy said the response
of the Australian government to these attacks is being managed
by a taskforce headed by the National Security Adviser.

Chowdhary had led a demonstration on June 18 against the
brutal attacks on Indian students in Australia.

Police patrols have been increased in relevant areas, the
High Commissioner said and added that Victorian authorities
have established a hotline to assist Indian students there,
employing people who are fluent in Hindi and English. PTI MPB
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Sarbjit gets a new lawyer, to file fresh review petition

Amritsar/Islamabad, June 27 (PTI) Indian death row
prisoner Sarbjit Singh, who is languishing in a Pakistani jail
for the last 18 years, has got a new lawyer, days after the
Supreme Court in Islamabad dismissed his appeal against
capital punishment.

Sarabjit's sister Dalbir Kaur on Saturday said she "no
longer had faith" in Rana Abdul Hamid, who was representing
him till now, questioning the lawyer's non-appearance during
the two recent hearings of the review petition challenging the
death sentence handed out to the Indian in 1991 for alleged
involvement in four blasts in Pakistan.

Sarabjit's new lawyer Owis Sheikh said it was due to
Hamid's "negligence" that the review petition was dismissed
ex-parte and said he will file a fresh petition in the court.

"I'm filing a review petition --his restoration
application before the Supreme Court. This is one remedy
available. If this is rejected, then the only remedy available
is to file a mercy petition before the President of Pakistan,"
Sheikh said in Islamabad.

The lawyer said carrying out the death sentence will
"badly affect" relations between Pakistan and India.

"It will create a good atmosphere if he is pardoned.
This is a very crucial case, internationally known.... The
President is keen to create good atmosphere and promote peace
with India," Sheikh said, adding he was optimistic that the
capital punishment will not be carried out.

Hamid, however, claimed that he was still Sarabjit's
lawyer. He said as his tenure as Additional Advocate General
of Punjab province ended on June 26 and he was again
epresenting the Indian prisoner.

Hamid also appealed to Pakistan President Asif Ali
Zardari to act on several mercy petitions that were pending
with him.

But Kaur told PTI that she had spoken to Sheikh over
phone this morning and he was ready to represent Sarabjit
"without charging a penny" while Hamid had been demanding a
hefty fee.

"Hamid demanded Rs six lakh to pursue the case but
here in India the entire family is struggling for two square
meals and it is next to impossible to arrange such an amount,"
she claimed.

"I have no more faith in Rana Abdul Hamid as he did not
tell us the reason as to why did not appear in the Supreme
Court of Pakistan when the mercy petition of my brother was
being heard," she said over phone.

Kaur said that new lawyer met her during a visit to
Amritsar in December last year and had promised "to provide
his services to save Sarabjit from the gallows".

She said that the Sheikh had informed her that he would
urge the court to commute the death sentence of 43-year-old
Sarbjit into life imprisonment. Sheikh, who is also a human
rights activist would launch a campaign to save the life of
Sarabjit with the help other NGOs in Pakistan.

Kaur said she also received a call from Pakistani Human
Right activist Ansar Burney, who has played a major role in
getting Indian prisoners released, that he had got an
appointment with Zardari on the issue of unconditional
clemency for Sarabjit.

A three-member bench on June 24 dismissed the review
petition and upheld Sarabjit's death sentence for his alleged
involvement in four bomb blasts at Lahore in 1990 that killed
14 people.

The judges also said they studied the case and found
"no ground" to review the death sentence.

Sarabjit, lodged in Kot-Lakhpat jail in Lahore, was set
to be hanged on April one last year though Pakistani
authorities put off his execution indefinitely after Prime
Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani intervened in the matter.

Following an appeal by Sarabjit, the Lahore High Court
had upheld his death sentence in 2003. The apex court too had
upheld his death sentence in August 2005. Former President
Pervez Musharraf dismissed Sarabjit's mercy petition last
year.

Sarabjit's execution was initially deferred for 30
days by Musharraf last year. This was done so that the
Pakistan People's Party-led government, which had just assumed
power at the time, could review his case following India's
appeal for clemency.

In October last year, then Law Minister Farooq Naek
met Sarabjit at Kot Lakhpat jail in Lahore to examine his case
so that President Zardari could decide whether to pardon him.
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