Indians outraged by death of convicted spy who was attacked by inmates in Pakistani jail

Indians shout slogans and burn an effigy representing Pakistan after Sarabjit Singh, a convicted Indian spy who was on Pakistan's death row, died from a head injury after two inmates attacked him with a brick in a Lahore jail, in Jammu, India, Thursday, May 2, 2013. Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said his government would arrange to bring Singh's remains home and for his last rites to be conducted in consultation with his family. He was arrested in 1990 after bombings in Lahore and Faisalabad that killed 14 people and was convicted of spying and carrying out the bomb blasts, and the death sentence he received has been upheld in Pakistani superior courts. (AP Photo/Channi Anand) (The Associated Press)

prev next

Sarabjit Singh's wife Sukhpreet Kaur, right, sister Dalbir Kaur, second from left, and daughters Poonam, left, and Swapandeep hold hands and walk after entering Indian soil at the India-Pakistan border area of Wagah, India, Wednesday, May 1, 2013. The family members traveled to Pakistan Sunday to meet Singh, an Indian spy on death row in Pakistan, who was critically injured Friday when he was attacked with a brick by two other prisoners inside a prison in the eastern city of Lahore. (AP Photo/Prabhjot Gill) (The Associated Press)

Dalbir Kaur, sister of Sarabjit Singh, an Indian spy on death row in Pakistan, addresses the media as Singh’s wife Sukhpreet Kaur, right, and daughters Poonam, left, and Swapandeep, second from right, stand beside her after entering Indian soil at the India-Pakistan border area of Wagah, India, Wednesday, May 1, 2013. The family members traveled to Pakistan Sunday to meet Singh, who was critically injured Friday when he was attacked with a brick by two other prisoners inside a prison in the eastern city of Lahore. (AP Photo/Prabhjot Gill) (The Associated Press)

NEW DELHI – Indians were outraged at the Pakistan government Thursday after a convicted Indian spy died from a head injury suffered when two inmates attacked him with a brick in a Pakistani prison last week.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said his government would arrange to bring Sarabjit Singh's remains home and for his last rites to be conducted in consultation with his family. Singh in a statement called it "'particularly regrettable" that Pakistan did not heed pleas to take a humanitarian view of the prisoner's case and allow him to return after he had served 20 years in prison.

Singh was arrested in 1990 after bombings in Lahore and Faisalabad that killed 14 people. He was convicted of spying and carrying out the bomb blasts, and the death sentence he received was upheld in Pakistani superior courts.

His family maintained Singh was innocent and had entered Pakistan inadvertently from his hometown of Bhikiwind in northern Punjab state bordering Pakistan.

Singh was attacked Friday and taken to a hospital. He died early Friday at Jinnah Hospital in the eastern city of Lahore after being comatose and on a ventilator for the last few days, according to a Pakistani foreign office statement in Islamabad.

The Pakistan government was completing all formalities to hand over Singh's remains to the Indian high commission in Islamabad as early as possible, it said.

Singh's death is expected to affect the ties between the nuclear-armed rivals, which have fought three major wars since they achieved independence from Britain in 1947.

India's External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said Thursday that relations between India and Pakistan "have been hurt by this terrible tragedy."

Singh's sister Dalbir Kaur, who visited him in the Lahore hospital early this week, called for snapping of ties with Pakistan. "It's a murder by Pakistan."

Ravi Shankar Prasad, the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party leader, slammed the Indian government and said he was "very pained by the gross indifference" by the Indian government in not putting enough pressure on Islamabad earlier to seek Singh's release.

Manish Tewari, India's information and broadcasting minister, said his government had been pressing Pakistan to release Singh since 2005.

India's ties with Pakistan have seen several ups and downs in recent years. The 2008 terror attack in Mumbai led to heightened tensions and brought the neighbors to the brink of war, but tensions eased after intense diplomatic pressure from the international community and a promise by then-Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf to clamp down on the militants.

Relations warmed somewhat in recent years, especially with regard to trade.

However, the ties deteriorated again after border clashes between their two armies early this year in which three Pakistani soldiers and two Indian soldiers were killed. The deaths ratcheted up tensions in an area where the two countries have long battled for dominance.

External Affairs Ministry spokesman Syed Akbaruddin said India was demanding a thorough investigation to identify who was responsible for the attack.

"This was simply the killing of an Indian citizen while in the custody of Pakistani authorities," the statement said. The attack "highlights the need for a concerted action by Pakistan to safeguard Indian prisoners in Pakistan."