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Pak SC rejects Sarabjit’s review petitions
Afzal Khan writes from Islamabad

Pakistan's Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed three review petitions filed by Indian national Sarabjit Singh and upheld the death sentence awarded to him for involvement in bomb attacks in 1990 that killed 14 persons.

A three-member bench led by Justice Raja Fayyaz ruled in a brief order that no fresh ground had been presented to warrant review of the earlier rejection of Sarabjit’s appeal by the Supreme Court. The bench had been adjourning the hearing for three consecutive sessions because of absence of Sarabjit's counsel Abdul Hameed Rana Advocate for unknown reasons.

Sarabjit was sentenced to death by a special anti-terrorist court in 1991 on charge of spying and killing 14 persons in two bomb blasts, one in Lahore and one in Faisalabad a year earlier. In January 2003, the Lahore High Court rejected his appeal against his sentence and later, in August 2005, the Supreme Court upheld the death sentence. On March 3, 2008, the then president, Pervez Musharraf, also rejected his mercy plea.

Sarabjit was to be hung on April 1, 2008, but on March 18 he was granted a 30-day extension that was later stayed indefinitely by Musharraf.

Take sympathetic view: India

New Delhi: Hours after the Pakistan Supreme Court rejected the review petitions of Sarabjit Singh, India hoped Islamabad would take a sympathetic look at the case of the Indian prisoner, who has been on death row for 18 years. “We have consistently urged the Pakistan government to take a sympathetic and humanitarian view in the case. It is our hope that they will find it possible to do so,’’ External Affairs Minister SM Krishna told reporters here.