Pakistani injured in India in tit-for-tat jail jail attack

A Pakistani prisoner in India was fighting for his life on Friday after being attacked by inmates, an official said, in apparent tit-for-tat violence.

Sarabjit Singh, an Indian jailed 16 years ago in Pakistan for alleged spying and over deadly bombings, died on Thursday after being savagely beaten in Lahore prison, sparking a furious response from Indian politicians.

Singh was to be cremated with state honours on Friday in his native village in northwestern India where angry demonstrators shouted "Down with Pakistan!" as they gathered to pay tribute to him.

The injured Pakistani prisoner -- a convicted murderer named as Sanaullah by a police source -- was assaulted early on Friday in the northern city of Jammu, a day after India's home ministry ordered stepped up security for jailed Pakistanis.

"He has been admitted in GMC Hospital with grievous head injuries," an official at the prison in Jammu told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Sanaullah was photographed with a swollen black eye and a bloodied beard as he was rushed into hospital in Jammu. Indian media reports said he was likely to be moved to a hospital in the larger city of Chandigarh.

"This obvious retaliation to the death of Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh is condemnable," said a statement from the Pakistan foreign ministry which asked for a police probe and the best treatment available for Sanaullah.

"We would also remind the government of India of its responsibility in ensuring the safety and security of all Pakistani prisoners lodged in Indian jails," it added.

Rajesh Kumar, the police chief for Jammu province, told AFP that police had registered a case and had begun investigating.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh condemned the "barbaric and murderous attack" on Sarabjit Singh and New Delhi complained that its diplomats were denied access to the prisoner as he fought for his life.

The main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party and Sarabjit Singh's family attacked the government for being too soft on Pakistan, while the parliament's lower house passed a resolution condemning the death.

On Friday, hundreds of mourners gathered in Bhikhiwind to pay their last respects to Singh at a public ground where the body was displayed in a wooden coffin wrapped in the Indian flag.

The chief minister of Punjab state, Prakash Singh Badal, and junior foreign minister Preneet Kaur were expected to attend the last rites which would be held on the outskirts of the village close to the India-Pakistan border amid tight security.

Sarabjit Singh was convicted for espionage and for his alleged involvement in a string of bomb attacks in Pakistan's Punjab province that killed 14 people in 1990. His mercy petitions were rejected by the courts and former president Pervez Musharraf.

His family insists he was a farmer who became a victim of mistaken identity after inadvertently straying across the border while drunk. India's government also denies he was a spy.

The body was set to be handed over to the family for cremation at 1400 local time (08:30 GMT).



 

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