Dalbir Kaur, the sister of Sarabjit Singh who is on a death row in a Pakistan prison, today made a vain bid to meet Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani during his stay at a hotel here.
As Gilani along with his entourage entered the Hotel Taj located in the heart of the city, Dalbir Kaur along with Sarabit's daughter Swapandeep Kaur and some other persons carrying a placard with a photograph of Sarabjit made efforts to have an audience with Gilani.
However, the water tight security arrangements at the hotel and around it prevented Dalbir Kaur from meeting Gilani.
"We can't allow her to meet Gilani till we get some clearance from the visiting guest side," a police officer said.
Kaur said she had high hopes that the Pakistan government would pardon her brother as he was a case of mistaken identity.
"Had I got a chance to meet Gilani I would have prayed before him to take some steps from my borther's release as he was not involved in the Karachi bomb blast case about two decades back," she said.
"I am also trying to contact the lawyer who had filed a mercy plea for my brother," she said.
Despite several attempts, Dalbir Kaur could not get any positive response. Sarabjit Singh is on death row in a prison in Lahore following his conviction for alleged involvement in bomb attacks in 1990.
The Lahore High Court awarded him death sentence in January 2003 in four different cases and the Pakistan apex court upheld the verdict. Pakistani authorities had indefinitely put off Sarabjit's hanging following the intervention of Prime Minister Gilani in 2008.
Sarabjit's family says he had mistakenly crossed the border in an inebriated condition and was wrongly accused of being involved in the attacks.
Gilani, after a brief stay at Hotel Taj along with his other Pakistani colleagues, headed straight for the Punjab Cricket Stadium at Mohali to witness the high voltage World Cup Cricket semifinal between India and Pakistan.