Asma Jehangir favours Sarabjit Singh's release

New Delhi, Mar 20 : Human Rights Commission of Pakistan Chairperson Asma Jehangir said on Thursday that Sarabjit Singh, the Indian awaiting gallows in a Pakistani jail, should be released and sent back to India.

India and Pakistan must treat each others citizens arrested on various grounds in a humane manner, Jehangir told reporters here.

She further said that the two countries should not play politics with human lives.

"Nations should strive to earn goodwill. We should not play politics with the lives of people," Jehangir said.

"I feel goodwill should be a two-sided thing, it should not be one-sided. But despite this, I feel that Sarabjit Singh should be released and sent back to India. Even if it means sentencing him to life, he should be sent back," she added.

Sarabjit Singh has been languishing in Pakistani jails for the past 17 years and has been awarded the death sentence on charges of spying and terrorist activities.

On Wednesday, Pakistan stayed the execution till April 30 after the Indian Government appealed to Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf.

Singh was sentenced to death in 1991 for spying and carrying out four bomb blasts that killed 14 people, but his family said he was innocent and had crossed the border into Pakistan accidentally in 1990 while drunk.

ANI