Pakistan’s supreme court has upheld the death penalty for Manjit (alias Sarabjit) Singh on charges of espionage. Manjit Singh is alleged to be a RAW agent, responsible for planning a series of blasts across the country. Is it a case of mistaken identity?
As someone familiar with the efficiency(!) of Pakistan’s police force, I am deeply skeptical about the whole case. Scores of sectarian-related bomb blasts have been carried out all over the country, but never has a culprit been identified. Popular conspiracy theories end up blaming RAW, Mossad, CIA: everyone but the jihadi terrorists responsible. What then are the odds that poor Mr. Singh actually is a terrorist infiltrator?
In the interest of confidence building, if nothing else, President Musharraf should step in and pardon the man. Or in the very least, reduce his sentence to a more humane prison term.
Meanwhile, Mr. Singh’s family has threatened to commit collective suicide if he is executed.
