<p>A leading Pakistani human rights activist may help save the lives of 17 Indians, who have been sentenced to death in March for allegedly killing a Pakistani national in Sharjah last year.<br /><br />Pakistan’s former federal minister for human rights Ansar Burney has offered to pay $54,000 as “blood money” (compensation) to the victim’s family in Pakistan in exchange for pardon for the 17 Indians who have been handed down death penalty by Sharjah’s Shariah court on March 29. <br /><br />Burney’s Karachi-based Ansar Burney Trust is already in touch with the Pakistan-based family of Misri Nazir Khan, who was allegedly killed in a skirmish in Sharjah in January 2009, with the offer of “blood money” in exchange for pardon for the Indians, should they fail to get acquittal in the appeals court.<br /><br />Their appeal against the death penalty is coming up for hearing in an appeals court in Sharjah on Wednesday. “If all efforts to get them acquitted by the court fail, my organisation is ready to offer blood money to the deceased man’s family,” Burney told Deccan Herald from London on Tuesday. <br /><br />Precedent<br /><br />There is a precedent. Way back in 1995, Indian diplomats had saved a man from Punjab from being executed in Saudi Arabia by paying Rs 12 lakh as blood money to the family of a Pakistani national he had been accused of killing. Last month, in UAE itself six Bangladeshi death row convicts were pardoned and released from prison after the Bangladeshi government paid blood money to the family of a Pakistani man they had allegedly killed.<br /><br />However, as of now, Bindu Suresh Chettur, the lawyer representing the men on the death row, intends to establish that her clients had not committed the crime they were accused of committing. “We are trying to prove in the court that none of the 17 had a role in the murder and they should be acquitted. Neither my clients, nor myself and other lawyers representing them, nor their family members had any connection with the move to offer blood money to the murdered man’s family,” Chettur said over the phone from Dubai. <br /><br />Even in this defence, Burney might come to the rescue of the accused Indians. Said Burney: “there is only one eyewitness. His name is Mustaq and he is also from Pakistan. Mustaq now says that he never identified any of the accused Indians… I don’t think 17 people, including youngsters, should be put to death for allegedly killing one, that too in a skirmish.” <br /><br />Chettur said, “We will call in the eyewitnesses to the incident and examine them. Apparently, they were not properly examined during the first trial.” The 17 accused are from Punjab and Haryana.<br /></p>
<p>A leading Pakistani human rights activist may help save the lives of 17 Indians, who have been sentenced to death in March for allegedly killing a Pakistani national in Sharjah last year.<br /><br />Pakistan’s former federal minister for human rights Ansar Burney has offered to pay $54,000 as “blood money” (compensation) to the victim’s family in Pakistan in exchange for pardon for the 17 Indians who have been handed down death penalty by Sharjah’s Shariah court on March 29. <br /><br />Burney’s Karachi-based Ansar Burney Trust is already in touch with the Pakistan-based family of Misri Nazir Khan, who was allegedly killed in a skirmish in Sharjah in January 2009, with the offer of “blood money” in exchange for pardon for the Indians, should they fail to get acquittal in the appeals court.<br /><br />Their appeal against the death penalty is coming up for hearing in an appeals court in Sharjah on Wednesday. “If all efforts to get them acquitted by the court fail, my organisation is ready to offer blood money to the deceased man’s family,” Burney told Deccan Herald from London on Tuesday. <br /><br />Precedent<br /><br />There is a precedent. Way back in 1995, Indian diplomats had saved a man from Punjab from being executed in Saudi Arabia by paying Rs 12 lakh as blood money to the family of a Pakistani national he had been accused of killing. Last month, in UAE itself six Bangladeshi death row convicts were pardoned and released from prison after the Bangladeshi government paid blood money to the family of a Pakistani man they had allegedly killed.<br /><br />However, as of now, Bindu Suresh Chettur, the lawyer representing the men on the death row, intends to establish that her clients had not committed the crime they were accused of committing. “We are trying to prove in the court that none of the 17 had a role in the murder and they should be acquitted. Neither my clients, nor myself and other lawyers representing them, nor their family members had any connection with the move to offer blood money to the murdered man’s family,” Chettur said over the phone from Dubai. <br /><br />Even in this defence, Burney might come to the rescue of the accused Indians. Said Burney: “there is only one eyewitness. His name is Mustaq and he is also from Pakistan. Mustaq now says that he never identified any of the accused Indians… I don’t think 17 people, including youngsters, should be put to death for allegedly killing one, that too in a skirmish.” <br /><br />Chettur said, “We will call in the eyewitnesses to the incident and examine them. Apparently, they were not properly examined during the first trial.” The 17 accused are from Punjab and Haryana.<br /></p>
