Thaindian News

Ajmer, May 11 (IANS) Octogenarian Pakistani prisoner Mohammad Khalil Chisti, who was Thursday permitted by the Supreme Court to visit Pakistan for a temporary stay, would like to meet Sarabjit Singh, the Indian prisoner on death row in Pakistan for terrorism, his family members said.

“I have heard about Sarabjit Singh’s case. He is languishing in Pakistan jails for many years. I really want to meet him and would also try to speak to higher authorities for his release,” Chisti told media persons in Ajmer, some 150 km from Jaipur.

Sarabjit Singh has been in Pakistan prisons for more than 20 years. He has been convicted for staging four bomb blasts in Lahore and Multan in 1990 that claimed 14 lives.

Sabarjit’s family members, human rights activists and the Indian government have been urging Pakistan to grant clemency to him.

Singh says he is only a poor farmer who mistakenly strayed into Pakistan from his village near the border. He was awarded the death penalty by an anti-terrorism court in 1991.

While lauding the Supreme Court judgement, Chisti said: “I am really happy and very excited to go back to Pakistan and looking forward to go as soon as possible there.”

Chisti’s younger brother Jameel Chisti said: “My brother is happy to get permission to visit Pakistan.”

Chisti is likely to file the application for release of his passport in a fast track court here Monday.

Chisti, a virologist in the Karachi Medical College, was sentenced to life imprisonment in January last year after an 18-year trial in a murder case.

The Supreme Court had April 11 granted condition bail to Chisti.

However, Chisti had to submit his passport to a court in Ajmer. The Supreme Court Thursday granted him permission to visit Pakistan, subject to certain conditions that include that he returns to India by Nov 1.