4-member panel of jurists to visit Pak
After the mysterious death of Indian prisoner Chambail Singh in Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat Jail, India has decided to send a judicial committee to Pakistan to review the condition of Indian prisoners in prisons there. Top government officials told this newspaper the stage is set for the visit of a four-member panel of jurists from India to Islamabad in April end.
Notably, the issue of Sarabjit Singh, an Indian national on death row in Pakistan, is also likely to come up during the panel’s visit. The panel had met Sarabjit during its last visit to Pakistan when he is learnt to have sought help for an early decision in his case.
Sarabjit has been in Kot Lakhpat prison for over 22 years. Union home minister Sushilkumar Shinde had raised the issue of Sarabjit’s release with visiting Pakistan interior minister Rehman Malik in December last year.
A total of around 620 Indian citizens are lodged in various Pakistani jails, official sources said. These consist of approximately 220 civilian prisoners and 400 fishermen.
Sources said the Indian team is expected to visit all main jails in Pakistan and hear the problems faced by the inmates. Chambail Singh died after he was allegedly assaulted by Kot Lakhpat Jail staff. India is still awaiting a detailed report on the medical findings and circumstances leading to his death.
The Indian jurists’ panel will not only seek details of Singh’s case, it will review the jail conditions and suggest measures. A major task for the panel would be to try and get prisoners languishing in jail despite completing their terms released on humanitarian grounds. The Indian panel’s visit is being facilitated under the bilateral arrangement of the Joint Judicial Committee (JJC) on prisoners set up in January 2007 to recommend steps for the humane treatment and expeditious release of Indian and Pakistani prisoners languishing in each other’s jails. The eight-member JJC consists of four jurists each nominated from India and Pakistan. While the Pakistani panel visited India early last year, the visit from the Indian side was delayed owing to heightened tensions between the two countries following the brutal killing of two Indian soldiers along the LoC in January.
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