Pak media exposes ill-treatment to Sarabjit in Lahore jail

Notwithstanding what the govt said, the Pak media exposed ill-treatment meted out to Sarabjit Singh in Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat jail and pulled jail authorities for their failure to provide him adequate safety. Chetan Chauhan reports. PM condoles Sarabjit's death, says Pak did not heed pleas

Updated on: May 3, 2013, 13:21:19 IST

Hindustan Times | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

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Notwithstanding what the government said, the Pakistani media exposed ill-treatment meted out to Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh in Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat jail and pulled jail authorities for their failure to provide him adequate safety.

The Dawn newspaper in an editorial asked why Sarabjit Singh was not considered a “prisoner at risk” considering he was high-profile prisoner with “political and diplomatic” overtones.

The newspaper also said that the global practice is to provide greater security to convicts like him, who, because of nature of their crime or identity are subjected to the ire of other inmates.

Singh was allegedly assaulted a week ago with iron rods and bricks by two inmates of Kot Lakhpat jail when he was walking outside his cell.

The attack was planned, another Pakistani newspaper The News reported, putting the blame on jail authorities for his death.

Geo TV was first to report that the jail authorities failed to prevent attack on Sarabjit even though they were present there.

The News said the jail authorities took over an hour to take Sarabjit to Jinnah Hospital, a reason for Sarabjit’s family blaming the Pakistan government for his death.

The Express Tribune, in its editorial, said the incident appears to be linked with hanging of Afzal Guru in Tihar Jail in India and apparent vengeance sought for this was on a man who obviously had no role to play in that event.

“It is rather absurd that, despite these warnings, he could not be kept safe in jail,” the newspaper said, while pulling up Inspector General (Jails) for failing to initiate an inquiry personally.

The newspaper, however, appreciated the Pakistan government’s gesture allowing Indian consular access to Sarabjit in Lahore’s Jinnah’s hospital.

After attack on Sarabjit, the Pakistani newspapers attacked the jail authorities for failing to prevent incidents of violence in jails.

“We have seen similar acts of violence in our prisons…action needs to be taken against those responsible,” said the Dawn
newspaper.

The Express Tribune said attack on Sarabjit could have been prevented if the jail authorities were more vigilant.

Not just media but some common Pakistani’s expressed their sadness over his death. “Spy or not, he was in Pak custody & was our responsibility,” said Wajahat S Khan.

Another person, Ahmed Qureshi tweeted said that Sarabjit waited for justice for 22 years, which never came.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

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