No mercy appeal submitted for Indian convict: Burney

The Federal Human Rights Minister Ansar Burney said on Monday that his ministry will not submit any petition in support of Sarabjit Singh, an Indian national charged with terrorism in Pakistan.
Ansar Burney, who had played a vital role in the release of Kashmir Singh on humanitarian grounds, talking to APP, said that the case of Sarabjit Singh differed because Sarabjit was charged with terrorism. He said that he supported the release of Kashmir Singh because Kashmir had paid for his crime and after consideration, the President had granted him mercy.
About the release of Kashmir Singh, Burney expressed disappointment at the attempt by an extremist lobby to give the move by the President of Pakistan a negative feel. He said that Kashmir Singh was charged with espionage in 1973 and sentenced to death.
He spent 35 years in a death cell, never received a single visitor and lost all contact with his family over two decades ago. Burney said the reason for his petition to the President was that Kashmir Singh had already spent 35 years in a death cell, over two life sentences, he said; and after spending such a long time in a death cell, which Burney described as far worse than normal prison cell, it was against Pakistani law and Islamic teachings to hang Singh. He said that the admittance by Singh that he was a spy was no surprise and only proved that he was rightly charged and sentenced in Pakistan.
He said that had Singh gone to India and said he was innocent, it would have been an embarrassment to Pakistan; however by admitting he was guilty, he only proved that he was rightly sentenced. He also said that the release of Kashmir Singh was made possible after clearance from the Prime Minister's office, the Ministry of Interior and other departments concerned; after which mercy was granted by the President.
Burney said that Singh's case was only one of the appeals he had sent to the President. The other appeals involved persons, mostly Pakistanis, who were condemned prisoners and had already spent over a life sentence in a death cell, become mentally disabled, physically disabled and developed serious illnesses, he added.
Ansar Burney had appealed to the President to halt any further hangings of such condemned prisoners in Pakistan until the Ministry of Human Rights completed an investigation on such prisoners; and made its recommendations.