Sarabjit Singh, how a terrorist becomes a hero

The death of Sarbjit Singh has indeed raised many concerns about the safety of Pakistani prisoners in the Indian jails. Sarbjit Singh who had confessed to killing many innocent Pakistanis in different bomb attacks, and who was awaiting his death sentence in Kot Lakhpat jail, was fatally beaten by two jail fellows. The injuries to his head were quite grave and after spending few days under ventilation in a hospital, he died yesterday.

Sarbjit Singh was without a doubt a terrorist, a killer whose ultimate appeal for mercy at the supreme court of Pakistan had been rejected. However, his extra judicial killing has made him a hero back home. The Indian media is portraying him as a hero and are severely criticising Pakistan for its incompetency in providing due security to Sarabjit Singh.

If he was guilty of killing many innocent citizens of Pakistan, and was given a death sentence, then the authorities should have implemented the court orders long time ago. That way, he would have died a terrorist. However, the failure to provide adequate security to him and his death at the hands of two Pakistani death row prisoners have created many doubts in the minds of people.

A terrorist does not deserve any sympathy. But today, the extra judicial killing of Sarabjit Singh has earned him lots of sympathies from many people. In India, he has become a hero. A hero, who spent more than 20 years in a Pakistani jail and was killed by two death row prisoners, quite a touching story. A typical Bollywood story! However, this time the writer of this story is Pakistan.

First of all, there was no need to keep him waiting for more than 20 years. Because, he either was a terrorist or an innocent. If he was a convicted terrorist, he should have been hanged long time ago. If he was innocent, he should not have been in jail for so many years.

In both cases, there is clear cut incompetency of Pakistani government. Also, on top of all this, there is now a potent threat to all Pakistani prisoners in Indian jails. They have to face this threat each day of their lives. Now, at least to counter their incompetency, Islamabad has to take this issue with Delhi to somehow ensure the safety of Pakistani prisoners from similar retributory attacks.