Sarabjit`s counsel to submit mercy plea signed by 100,000

M Zulqernain

Lahore, Aug 27 (PTI) Over 100,000 Indians, including
former test cricketers and chief justices, have signed a mercy
petition addressed to President Asif Ali Zardari seeking
clemency for Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh, who is on death
row in a Pakistani prison.

Awais Sheikh, the counsel for Sarabjit, said he had
brought back the mercy petition with more than 100,000
signatures when he returned from a recent visit to India.

"The signatories include former test cricketer Kapil
Dev, Delhi's Jama Masjid Shahi Imam Syed Ahmed Bukhari, Syed
Amin Hashmi of the Ajmer Sharif dargah, former Chief Justices
R S Mongia and Rajindar Sachar, members of Indian human rights
groups, Christian and Muslim bodies, doctors, engineers,
lawyers, farmers and students," Sheikh told a news conference
here.

Sheikh said he would submit the mercy petition to the
President Zardari and also apprise him about the sentiments of
the Indians in this regard.

"Since Sarabjit has been in prison for long, his
sentence can be commuted to life imprisonment under the law,"
he said. Commuting Sarabjit's sentence will help improve
relations between India and Pakistan, he added. PTI