Cremated with State Honours

POLITICS// Sarabjit Singh, the 49-year-old Indian prisoner jailed in Pakistan for decades, breathed his last on May 2, 2013, in Lahore. He was attacked in Kot Lakhpat Jail allegedly by six co-inmates. He was rushed to a hospital where he died of a cardiac arrest. Sarabjit Singh a.k.a. Manjit Singh was arrested in 1990 by the Pakistan Army. He was accused of being an Indian spy, and was charged of plotting a series of blasts at Lahore and Multan in 1989. Singh’s family has maintained that he was a farmer whose land ran along the Indo-Pak border. They also maintain that Singh had crossed the zero line in an inebriated state. Recent reports published by Indian newspapers, it has been alleged that Sarabjit Singh was indeed a spy. However, no official statement has been made to confirm the news. In what is being called a reaction to Sarabjit Singh’s death, Pakistani prisoner Sanaullah Haq, serving term in Kot Bhalwal Jail, J&K, was beaten up by his co-inmates. Haq was admitted to PGIMER, Chandigarh, where he died of multiple organ failure. Haq, a resident of Dallowali near Sialkot, Pakistan, was convicted of 1994 J&K bombings which killed 10 people. He was serving a life sentence. He died on May 9, 2013.