Sarabjit's daughter to take 'wing' to meet in Pak

Jalandhar, Dec 28: If wishes were horses ... beggars would ride, all dreams and desires would ride alongside ... worries and troubles would fall off behind, goes a saying.

She wished really hard for her father's release from prison in Pakistan, but her wishes never came true. She pleaded before the powers that be of two countries for his liberty, but then all her requests bore no fruit.

Having hit several ''roadblocks'' and failed in almost every ''wish and effort'' she made, one day she took it upon herself and decided to ''wing her way'' on a ''wing and a prayer'' to the neighbouring country to meet her male parent, who has been sentenced to death there for alleged spying.

Swapandeep Kaur, daughter of Sarabjit Singh who has been facing the death sentence in Lahore jail, is presently training to become an air hostess at a private institute to enable herself to fly across the border to meet him.

Sarabjit's Amritsar-based family has long been making earnest efforts through different channels to secure his release and go to Pakistan to meet him in jail.

However, the efforts so far have yielded no results and the condemned prisoner's fate is still up in the air.

The idea of becoming an air hostess struck Swapandeep Kaur when she saw that her family's every endeavour to secure Sarabjit's release came to naught. She then saw the option of becoming an air hostess the only route to go to Pakistan and meet him in jail there.

Training for the career was available but the wherewithal for it came as a roadblock again.

But Lady Luck smiled on Sarabjit's family and the funds flowed from the Punjab government and the Centre which were like manna from heaven for them.

Institute spokesperson Satwinder Singh says the institute has been assured by the Punjab Government that Swapandeep's training expenses have been sanctioned from the Centre and they will be paid to it through the state government.

The one-year training would cost around Rs one lakh and the government has assured timely payment of the same, the spokesperson adds.

Swapandeep Kaur has already completed training of about six months and the institute officials are satisfied with her performance and expecting her to complete the rest of the training in due time.

UNI