Killed Indian ‘spy’ to be buried
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Sarabjit Singh’s death in Pakistan triggered angry protests across India
An Indian man convicted of spying in Pakistan and killed in a local jail is to be buried in India, amid mass outrage across the country.
Big crowds are expected to attend the state funeral of Sarabjit Singh in his home village near the city of Amritsar.
Sarabjit Singh – who was sentenced to death by Pakistan in 1991 – died after being attacked with bricks by other inmates in Lahore’s jail.
Delhi said the attack was “barbaric”, demanding the perpetrators be punished.
Sarabjit Singh had been sentenced to death for spying and his role in bomb attacks that killed 14 people in Pakistan in 1990.
His family always insisted he was innocent and had strayed into Pakistan by mistake when he was arrested.
The issue risks stirring fresh tensions in relations between the nuclear-armed neighbours and long-time rivals, correspondents say.
‘Brave son of India’
The body of 49-year-old Sarabjit Singh was flown to Amritsar, northern India, from Lahore on Thursday.
Hundreds of grieving people waited at the airport, describing Sarabjit Singh as a “martyr”.
His death triggered protests in India, as people burned Pakistani flags and accused Islamabad of hatching a conspiracy to kill him.
His body will be handed over to his family in the village of Bikhiwind for cremation at 14:00 local time (08:30 GMT) on Friday.
In a statement, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called Sarabjit Singh “a brave son of India” and said the attack was “barbaric”.
“It is particularly regrettable that the government of Pakistan did not heed the pleas of the government of India, Sarabjit’s family and of civil society in India and Pakistan to take a humanitarian view of this case,” he added.
He was referring to mercy petitions which had been rejected by Pakistani courts and former President Pervez Musharraf.
Sarabjit Singh’s sister Dalbir Kaur called her brother’s death “a murder by Pakistan”, according to the Associated Press.
Ms Kaur said she would continue to fight for the release of other Indian prisoners in Pakistani jails.
Espionage accusations
Sarabjit Singh fell into a coma after last Friday’s attack in Lahore’s Jinnah hospital and died on Thursday morning.
He had been assaulted as he and other prisoners were brought out of their cells for a one-hour break.
An autopsy was carried out before Sarabjit Singh’s body was cleared for transfer to India
Two inmates were charged with attempted murder and two officials suspended.
The Pakistani foreign ministry said Sarabjit Singh had received “the best treatment available” and that “medical staff at Jinnah Hospital had been working round the clock… to save his life”.
Tensions between the two countries had already increased in the past six months with the execution in India of Kashmiri Afzul Guru over the 2001 attack on India’s parliament, and of Mohammed Ajmal Qasab, a Pakistani who was the sole surviving gunman from the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
Sarabjit Singh’s lawyer Owais Sheikh said his client had received threats after Guru’s execution.
Pakistan and India frequently arrest each other’s citizens, often accusing them of being spies after they have strayed across the land or maritime border.
In recent years, several Indians returning from Pakistani jails have admitted to spying.
