BHIKHIWIND, PUNJAB, May 3:
Thousands of people with moist eyes and prayers on lips bid a tearful departure to Sarabjit Singh for his heavenly abode with full state honours this afternoon.
Sarabjit died in a Lahore Hospital yesterday after a brutal attack by fellow inmates in Kot Lakhpat jail a week ago. He had been lying in coma for the last six days.
His sister Dalbir Kaur lit the pyre at around 1430 hrs in the absence of a male child of Sarabjit. She performed his last rites in accordance with Sikh traditions.
Before his pyre was lit, a contingent of the Punjab police in full traditional police dress fired in the air as a mark of respect to the departed.
People from all walks of life flocked to the dusty town of Bhikhiwind to catch a glimpse of Sarabjit. The State Government has announced a three-day state mourning for Sarabjit who had been declared a national martyr by the State Government in a special assembly session this morning.
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, Minister of State for External Affairs Preneet Kaur, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, Punjab Pradesh Congress president chief Partap Singh Bajwa, were among the hundreds of leaders from different political parties who attended the cremation.
Arrangements had been made for thousands at the cremation ground here.
The body, placed in a wooden coffin and draped in the tricolour, was brought for its final journey to his native town last night.
Before handing over the body to the family, a second post-mortem was also carried out at the Government-run Amritsar Medical College in Patti to ‘know the cause behind his death’. The first autopsy was conducted at Pakistan’s Jinnah Hospital where Sarabjit died.
The Punjab Government has announced an ex gratia of Rs 1 crore for the family of Sarabjit while the Centre has announced ex-gratia of Rs 25 lakh from the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund.
Sarabjit was sentenced to death in connection with 1990 serial blasts. His mercy plea had been rejected by the Musharraf Government but the execution of his death sentence had been put off by the People’s party Government.
A number of rights activists on both sides of the border had been campaigning for commuting death sentence of Sarabjit.
His family says he was totally innocent and never involved in any crime. He had only inadvertently strayed across the border. He died around 0100 hrs yesterday. (UNI)
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