2 retd Indian judges to visit Pakistan jail where Sarabjit attacked

NEW DELHI: Two retired Indian judges, part of a joint India-Pakistan panel looking after each other's prisoners' condition, will soon visit a Lahore jail where death-row prisoner Sarabjit Singh was seriously injured following an attack by prison inmates.


Retired Justices K S Gill and M A Khan and their Pakistani counterparts, all members of India-Pakistan Joint Judicial Committee of Prisoners, had visited the Karachi jail yesterday as part of an exercise to meet Indian prisoners, see their conditions and prison records and whether their release could be expedited.

A senior Home Ministry official told PTI that the panel is scheduled to visit Lahore's Kot Lakhpat jail within a day or two to see the conditions of Indian inmates. The retired jurists will also visit the Rawalpindi jail.

Sarabjit was lodged in Kot Lakhpat jail till yesterday. He has been undergoing treatment at Jinnah Hospital since the attack yesterday.

India-Pakistan Joint Judicial Committee of Prisoners had visited Tihar, Jaipur and Amritsar jails in the past to meet the Pakistani inmates. The Committee was formed in January 2007 as part of an agreement between the two countries.

Every year, hundreds of citizens, including fishermen, are arrested and imprisoned for straying across territorial waters and land borders.