By Muslim Mirror News,
New Delhi, May 2: Aaghaz-E-Dosti, a people’s initiative for friendly relations between India and Pakistan, has condemned the revival of jingoistic sentiments over the death of Sarabjit Singh in a Pakistan jail. The group has also condemned the media for provoking the people now while remaining silent for years of Sarabjit’s case.
“We pray for Sarabjit’s soul. It is an unfortunate reality. However, we condemn the revival of jingoistic sentiments. It is disturbing that a loss of life has become another opportunity to revive jingoism,” said Aaghaz-e-Dosti today.
“Sarabjit’s case had been there for two decades but the Indian Government had never took any major step for his release and now after his death, the Prime Minister declared him as “the brave son of the nation”. The Indian Government had asked for a mercy petition for Sarabjit but according to his relatives and his advocate, he was innocent. It was a case of “mistaken identity”. The media was also aware of this but they chose to remain silent. And now they have made short documentaries on the “martyr” and are provoking the people of India. Why were they silent? How do these documentaries suddenly erupt, in a matter of a few hours? We also condemn the response from the opposition leaders. Why were they silent earlier?” the group asked.
Aaghaz-e-Dosti, an initiative of Mission Bhartiyam to strengthen Indo-Pak friendship, also strongly criticized the Pakistan government for neglecting the security of Indian prisoner.
“It was also unacceptable that the Pakistan Government had neglected the security of an Indian prisoner whose trial was still ongoing. There are several unanswered questions like how were the Pakistani prisoners able to attack Sarabjit when the barracks for Pakistani and Indian soldiers were separate? How were weapons allowed in the jail?”
It demanded a fair probe into the incident.
“We request the Pakistani Government to ensure a fair and speedy investigation. We also request them to tighten the security of other prisoners in the jail.”
“We condemn the jingoistic response from both sides. We think that both the Governments had failed. We do not know the “truth” and we do not want to engage in the “if they would have” debate. There have been lapses on both sides. But what we must realise is that above all this politics, a life has been lost…a life that was possibly “innocent”. This is not a moment to politicise his death and shamefully regard it as “another knot” in the Indo-Pak relations.”