Victim’s kin to pardon Punjabis in Dubai jail

Sanjiv Kumar Bakshi

Hoshiarpur, February 8

The family of a deceased Pakistani, Mohammed Ezaz, has agreed to give a letter of pardon to 10 Punjabi youths, sentenced to death by a Dubai court.

Convicted of Ezaz’s murder, they have been lodged in a Dubai jail since October last year.

The amount of “blood money” to secure the release of the youths is yet to be decided. The Sarbat Da Bhala Trust has made an offer of Rs60 lakh, as per Dubai law, but the family seeks “blood money” in crores of rupees.

“A team of the Trust is at the deceased’s home in Peshawar. It is hopeful of striking a compromise in a couple of days,” SPS Oberoi, managing trustee of the Trust, told The Tribune from Dubai over phone.

Earlier, he said, the family did not agree to give a letter of pardon to the convicts. “After the Trust’s team visited them twice in Peshawar, they agreed. But the compromise is yet not final.”

Ezaz is survived by his parents and two brothers.

The team will submit the power of attorney from the four members of the deceased’s family in court on February 27, the next date of hearing.

“The father of the deceased will have to appear in court. After a settlement of ‘blood money’ amount, the compromise will be final,” Dubai-based hotelier Oberoi added.

In all, 11 men — in their twenties — were booked for the murder of Ezaz following a brawl over bootlegging on July 12, 2015. One of them was spared death sentence, but slapped with a fine of Rs2 lakh.

The convicts are Satminder Singh of Barnala; Chander Shekhar of Hoshiarpur; Chamkaur Singh of Malerkotla; Kulwinder Singh, Balwinder Kumar and Dharamvir Singh, all from Ludhiana; Harjinder Singh of Mohali; Tarsem Singh of Amritsar; Gurpreet Singh of Patiala; and Jagjit Singh of Gurdaspur.