Pakistan court summons all witnesses in Sarabjit's murder case
A court in Pakistan today summoned all the witnesses next month in the murder case of Indian national Sarabjit Singh, who was killed by his fellow prisoners in 2013. Two Pakistani death row prisoners, Amir Sarfraz alias Tamba and Mudassar, in May 2013 attacked Sarabjit, 49, in the Kot Lakhpat Jail in Lahore and killed him. Here are more details.
Judge expressed anger as no witnesses appeared before the court
Lahore's Additional District and Sessions Judge Muhammad Moin Khokhar expressed anger as none of the prosecuting witnesses appeared before the court to record their statement. "Issuing notices to all the witnesses in the case for next hearing on October 5, the judge directed the prosecutor to ensure their presence," an official said. He said only two witnesses of jail had recorded their statements.
Judge had admonished jail authorities for not cooperating with court
"One of the witnesses in the previous hearing had told the court that Sarabjit Singh was brought to the Services Hospital in a critical condition. I wanted to record Singh's statement but the doctors stopped him, terming his condition very serious," the official said. In the previous hearings, the judge had also admonished the jail authorities for not cooperating with the court.
Initially, one-man judicial commission had investigated Sarabjit's murder case
A one-man judicial commission of Justice Mazhar Ali Akbar Naqvi of the Lahore High Court had initially investigated Sarabjit Singh's murder case before the trial kicked off in the sessions court. The Ali Akbar Naqvi commission recorded the statements of some 40 witnesses in the case and submitted a report to the government which is yet to make its findings public.
Tamba and Mudassar confessed to the killing of Sarabjit
The one-man commission had also issued notices to Sarabjit's relatives through the Foreign Ministry to record their statements and produce any evidence they had regarding his death. However, Sarabjit's family didn't record their statements. Tamba and Mudassar had confessed to the crime and said they killed Sarabjit as they wanted to avenge the killing of people in Lahore and Faisalabad in bomb blasts.
Sarabjit had been sentenced to death over involvement in bombings
Sarabjit had been sentenced to death for his alleged involvement in a string of bombings in 1990 in Pakistan's eastern Punjab province.
