Chandigarh, July 11 (IANS) Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal Saturday assured all help to Dalbir Kaur, whose brother Sarabjit Singh is facing the death sentence in Pakistan.
Badal also asked the chairman of the Akali Dal parliamentary board to move a resolution to mount pressure on the central government for securing the release of Sarabjit Singh.

According to an official spokesman, Dalbir Kaur met the chief minister at his residence and sought his personal intervention.

“Badal assured her that he would again take up the matter with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and persuade him to use all diplomatic channels for the release of Sarabjit Singh at the earliest,” he said.

After meeting Badal, Dalbir Kaur told IANS: “I am feeling very satisfied after meeting Badal as he was very courteous and helpful. He said he would raise this issue with the ministers and officials concerned.”

Pakistan’s Supreme Court rejected Sarabjit’s mercy petition June 24 after his lawyer failed to appear in the court.

Sarabjit has been languishing in Pakistani jails for 18 years. He has been convicted on charges of masterminding four bomb blasts in Lahore and Multan in 1990 that claimed 14 lives.

Badal gave away Rs.50,000 to Dalbir Kaur to engage the services of a good lawyer to defend Sarabjit.

Sarabjit, lodged in Lahore’s high-security Kot Lakhpat jail, was to have been hanged April 1, 2008. This was put off after Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani sought to re-examine the issue.