New Delhi: India's Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon has hinted that the chances of getting Sarabjit's Singh's death sentence commuted are bleak. But he insisted that the Government will continue with it efforts.
Menon said, “India is not sure of a positive decision coming out on Sarabjit. Its difficult but the Government is trying its best.”
A bleak assessment from Menon on the case of Sarabjit Singh convicted of bomb blasts in Pakistan and sentenced to death.
This was far removed from the broad hints reportedly conveyed by Pakistani and Indian officials in Islamabad two days ago, during Pranab Mukherjee's visit that Sarabjit would be handed over to India before Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi's visit to Delhi next month.
Earlier, Pakistan Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani told CNN-IBN that the government had requested President Pervez Musharraf to look into Sarabjit's mercy petition. In fact his hanging has been put off indefinitely.
On top of that Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil's remarks to CNN-IBN linking Sarabjit's case with Afzal Guru - who was convicted and sentenced to death in the Parliament attack case.
On Wednesday Patil had said, "In Pakistan, we say don't hang Sarabjit and here we say hang Afzal?"
Although Patil's comments raised BJP hackles - Sarabjit's appeal for mercy may well depend on which way Afzal Guru's mercy petition is dealt with.
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