Indian judicial panel seeks Pak nod to visit Sarabjit

Indian members of a bilateral judicial committee on prisoners have asked Pakistan to arrange a visit to the Lahore hospital where Indian death row prisoner Sarabjit Singh is being treated after a brutal assault.

Retired judges A S Gill and M A Khan arrived in Pakistan for a scheduled visit on Friday, hours after Sarabjit was attacked by other prisoners in Lahore's Kot Lakhpat Jail. They have asked Pakistan's foreign office to allow them to visit Sarabjit in Jinnah Hospital, official sources told PTI.

The Indian judges flew into Karachi, where they met 482 Indian fishermen and six civilian prisoners being held in different jails in the southern port city. On Monday, they met eight Indian civilian prisoners being held at Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi. The judges travelled from Rawalpindi to Lahore on Monday evening. They are scheduled to meet some 30 Indian prisoners at Kot Lakhpat Jail at 11 am on Tuesday.

The sources said the judges had had "good interactions" with the Indian prisoners in Karachi and Rawalpindi. In Karachi, all the fishermen and civilian prisoners were presented before the judges, who questioned them about their problems and conditions within the jails.

In Rawalpindi too, the judges interacted with the prisoners. The judges and officials accompanying them allowed the prisoners to call their relatives in India on mobile phones.

Sarabjit, 49, sustained several injuries, including a skull fracture, when six prisoners attacked him in Kot Lakhpat Jail on Friday afternoon. The judicial committee has taken several steps in recent years to improve conditions for Indian and Pakistan prisoners. Scores of fishermen were also freed after their issue was taken up by the committee.