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| Sarabjit Singh |
Since last few days, every news channel has run special shows on Sarabjit Singh, an Indian farmer who is
supposed to be a RAW agent. To be honest, I didn’t know anything about Singh
until April 2013, when he was attacked in the jail. As soon as I heard about
Singh on the news, my curiosity was stirred awake. I wanted to know how come an
Indian farmer, who was also allegedly a RAW
agent, was in Pakistan for such a long time without India taking any
action. So I started researching Singh. I went through numerous articles by
various publications, including The Times of India and Hindustan Times. Even Wikipedia has got a page on Singh.
But the more I read, the more confused I got. The mystery of Singh was
getting more and more convoluted. According to Wikipedia, Singh was an Indian farmer who crossed the unmarked
Indo-Pakistan border when he was drunk. Singh was initially arrested for
illegally crossing the border. Later on, Pakistani authorities accused Singh of
being involved in the 1990 terror blasts at Faisalabad and Lahore that killed 14 people. Now there are two
interesting aspects of these charges: first, the blasts were carried out three
months before Singh actually strayed into Pakistan;
secondly, Pakistani authorities claimed that Sarabjit Singh was actually Manjit
Singh. If these facts are true, I have one question. Are Pakistanis really that
stupid or they intentionally played dumb to make Singh the target for their
problems?
In 1991, Singh went through a brief trail in the Lahore High court, where he was convicted and sentenced to death.
If you read the details of the trial in depth, you will find many abnormalities
in the case. First of all, who was Sarabjit Singh? Was he really Manjit Singh,
an alleged RAW agent, or was he really whom he claimed to be, an Indian farmer
who was stupid enough to cross the unmarked Indo-Pakistan border under the
influence of alcohol? No efforts were made to verify the identity of Singh.
Secondly, the court proceedings were conducted in English and no interpreter
was provided for Singh. Do you think that Singh, who was an uneducated Indian
farmer, knew English? And when he didn’t know the language of the proceedings,
how did he confess that he was a RAW agent? Thirdly, the main witness of the
bombings kept changing his statement repeatedly. What does that imply? How did
the court know when the witness was lying and when he was speaking the truth?
Were there any other reliable witnesses to the incident?
To be honest, I don’t know whether Singh was a RAW agent or just an
Indian farmer who was unfortunate enough to stray into Pakistan. But I know one
thing ─ Singh didn’t receive just treatment either from Pakistan or from India.
It’s given that Pakistan wouldn’t be interested in helping an Indian but what
about India? What did India do to protect Singh? Did they put enough political
pressure on Pakistan to free Singh? Did they heed Singh’s family’s pleas for
his return when he was under intensive medical treatment in Pakistani hospital?
No. Politicians were busy playing their political games. Every political party
was trying to take advantage of Singh and his family’s plight. And what did
they do after Singh died? They expressed remorse and sadness for Singh and his
family. What is the point of such actions? Will that bring back Singh for his
family?
When the government declared that Singh’s family will receive money and
that his daughter will get a government job, I could think only one thing: will
these actions comfort Singh’s widow and children? Did Singh deserved to die
like a street dog in Pakistan? Did he deserve to lose the dignity that we take for
granted every day?
I hope one day we will stand up for such injustices rather than just
carrying out meaningless protests and campaigns. I hope there will be a day
when all human beings, including Indians, will get a chance to exercise their
basic rights no matter where they are. And I hope one day there will be better
law and order, where innocents are protected and criminals are punished.
This is a guest post by Pankti Mehta, who writes at Musings of A Confused Gal. If you would like to write for us, then you should
access this Contact Us page to send a request.
About the Author
Pankti is a guest author of our blog. She simply loves books, be it fantasy, horror, thriller, romance or chick lit. However, she avoids classic literature and philosophies like anathema. Most of her blogs revolve around day to day incidents and how we react to it. They may be serious, sarcastic, or simply funny.
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I don't think he deserved this at all...goverment should put a lot more pressures on Pakistan in order to release him much much earlier... RIP..he was a brave Indian for sure...
ReplyDeleteYes, he was indeed brave. But I still can't stop thinking about his family. Moreover, there are nearly 2000 Indians locked in Pakistan jail. What will happen to them? Will they meet the same fate like Sarabjit Singh? These questions need to be raised for sure.
DeleteSarabjit is a victim of Worst Con-Gress policy...!!
ReplyDeleteMay be he was the victim of some political issues, or he might be victim of social injustice.....Pakistan government was not being able to hang him on legal procedure...that might lead them to choose this path....I n short we lost a true patriot and a brave soldier of Indian soil...that I know for sure
DeleteNicely written Pankti. Sarabjit is an Indian innocent life lost..in a foreign land, all alone without any of his family or friends. I don't care whether he was a spy or not, he and his family have paid a big price for Indian govt's lack of tact
ReplyDeleteThanks Sfurti. Yeah, this kind of situation is more hard on the family than anybody else.
DeleteGood article...thank you.
ReplyDelete