Sarabjit's sister blasts Modi's Pak move

A guarded response fast turns into a scathing proclamation of deep anguish as the crusader sister Dalbir Kaur cries foul over Pakistan’s slothfulness to bring to justice to the ones who killed her brother Sarabjit Singh in a Pakistan jail over two years ago.

India’s peace initiatives with Pakistan under Prime Minister Modi's leadership, perhaps, have only worsened her pain.

Talking to Deccan Herald on Wednesday, Dalbir Kaur said Pakistan's intentions are dubious. She said the tragic life and  death of her brother Sarabjit Singh, who languished in Pakistan jail for over two decades, should have served a lesson for the Indian establishment. “Prime Minister Modi should not have visited Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's residence on his way back,” she said, adding that Pakistan needs to walk the talk before any peace move has to take place from our side.

As Dalbir Kaur signals an outrage of sorts for many like her who have lived through the pain, she advises caution in dealing with Pakistan. “How can India trust a neighbour who perpetually defaults on promises. See how many prisoners are languishing in Pakistan jails. Have we brought them back? Has anyone expressed concern over their fate, be it any government, Narindra Modi or Sushma Swaraj?,” she said.

“What Pakistan did in Sarabjit’s case is unpardonable. Even today, I am not aware of who was behind the gruesome murder of my brother. The question still haunts me.” She says every time there has been a peace move by India, it is followed by a terror response from Pakistan. “In a way, a dialogue will defeat the designs of non-state actors, but there needs to be an exaggerated caution in defining peace initiatives with Pakistan,” she said.

Indian death row prisoner Sarabjit Singh died in a Lahore hospital after being comatose for six days following a brutal assault by other inmates of a high-security jail. Accused as an Indian spy, Singh was convicted of alleged involvement in a string of bomb attacks in Punjab province that killed 14 people in 1990. He spent 22 years in Pakistani prisons. Sarabjit's family has maintained he was a victim of mistaken identity and had accidentally strayed across the border in an inebriated state.