For Pakistan, Sarabjit was always Manjit

Sarabjit Singh in India, Manjit Singh in Pakistan. For the man, who was given a state funeral here on Thursday after having been brutally attacked in a Lahore jail where he was on death row, it was really all about a name. 

For his family, he was Sarabjit Singh, the 26-year-old who had mistakenly crossed the border into Pakistan in an inebriated state in 1990. For Pakistan, he was Manjit Singh, a condemned terrorist guilty of blasts in Lahore and Multan that killed 14 people.

For nearly 23 years, Sarabjit Singh tried to wash off the name-tag and actions of someone else. He was only partially successful. When he was laid to rest in his hometown here on Friday, Sarabjit made his final journey under his given name and was treated as a martyr in his own country. But the duality persisted.