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Raisethefist.com: Pakistan prisoner release confusion dashes Indian family's hopes
Pakistan prisoner release confusion dashes Indian family's hopes
by anonymous Thu Jun 28 17:35:39 PDT 2012
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The promise of a longtime prisoner's release, a gesture meant to boost confidence between wary neighbors Pakistan and India, has left one family with dashed hopes and the Indian public in confusion after a mysterious mix-up.
Pakistani news reports said late Tuesday that Sarabjit Singh, 43, would be returned to his native India after 22 years in a Pakistani prison.
Convicted in 1990 of crossing the border and planting four bombs that killed 14 people in eastern Pakistan's Punjab province, Singh was sentenced to death the following year. He has declared that he's innocent, saying he crossed over by accident three months after the bombings.
News of his impending release sparked celebration across India, particularly in his hometown near the Pakistani border, and India's foreign minister quickly issued a statement of appreciation to Islamabad.
Shortly after midnight Wednesday, however, Pakistani government spokesman Farhatullah Babar announced that there was "some confusion" and that a different man, Surjeet Singh, would be freed. Singh is a common name on both sides of the border and the two are not related.
Surjeet Singh, convicted of espionage, crossed over and was arrested in 1982. His death sentence was commuted a few years later to a 25-year jail term. Although that ended in 2010, he's languished inLahore'sKot Lakhpat jail since.
Sarabjit Singh's relatives, who were dancing, lighting fireworks and handing out sweets as many of their village's residents prepared to meet him at the Wagah border, were devastated.
"We were awake late celebrating," said Swapandeep Singh, 24, his daughter. "We were shocked."
Sixty miles away, Surjeet Singh's family experienced very different emotions. They were already jubilant because any release of an Indian held in Pakistan was cause for celebration, said his son, Kulwinder Singh. "But when we heard it was actually my father, we couldn't contain our joy," he added.
As of late Wednesday, neither had returned to India.
Both prisoners are from Punjab state, which shares its name with the neighboring Pakistani province, and lived within a few dozen miles of the border. The families have grown close over the years.
There's much reported debate in India's official circles over whether the Pakistani media made a huge mistake or one of Pakistan's powerful security agencies pressured the government to reverse course, given the six hours it took Islamabad to correct the story.
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