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28 March 2024

Pakistan stops consular access to wounded Indian

Published
By AFP

Pakistan on Sunday denied consular access to an Indian national on death row who is fighting for his life after being attacked by fellow inmates, Indian government officials told AFP in New Delhi.

Sarabjit Singh, who was sentenced to death 16 years ago on espionage charges by a Pakistani court, was rushed to hospital on Friday with multiple wounds, including a severe head injury, after an argument in Lahore's Kot Lakhpat Jail.

"Officials from the Indian High Commission in Pakistan were not allowed to visit Sarabjit Singh on Sunday. The authorities have also refused to share his medical updates with the Indian officials," said a senior Indian official, speaking under the condition of anonymity.

The officer said the Indian foreign ministry is making "every possible attempt" to get information about Singh's health and using every "diplomatic mechanism to get an update about the situation".

"It is crucial for us to know about Singh's health and Pakistan cannot deny information to India," said another government official in New Delhi.

The Pakistan foreign ministry was not immediately available for comment.

Singh is fighting for his life in the hospital's intensive care unit (ICU) after he was hit with bricks and other blunt objects by inmates.

His wife, two daughters and sister arrived in Pakistan by the land border at Wagah, near the eastern city of Lahore.

"We came here to see him and to meet him, I have been allowed to stay with him in hospital," Singh's sister Dalbir Kaur told reporters.

"I will go directly to hospital and will meet him to see his condition and to know whether he needs anything." She hoped that he would get well soon and be allowed to return to India.

Singh's lawyer Owais Sheikh earlier told AFP that his client had received threats following the execution of a Kashmiri separatist in India. Mohammed Afzal Guru was hanged in New Delhi on February 9 for his part in a deadly Islamist attack on the Indian parliament in 2001.

Singh, 49, was convicted for alleged involvement in a string of bomb attacks in Punjab province in Pakistan which killed 14 people in 1990. His mercy petitions were rejected by the courts and former president Pervez Musharraf.

His family says he is a victim of mistaken identity and had inadvertently strayed across the border.