New Delhi:
Sarabjit Singh, his family says, strayed across the border in Punjab into Pakistan one night in 1990. 23 years later, his body was flown back in a special plane that landed in Amritsar this evening. It was a tragic homecoming.
Mr Singh, a death row prisoner accused of terrorism in Pakistan, died at 12.45 am on Thursday in a Lahore hospital. He was brought there comatose on Friday last, after six other prisoners attacked him in jail, using bricks to inflict mortal injuries on him.
Today, a two-hour delay in the aircraft's take-off from Lahore because paperwork was not done, lengthened the anguished wait in Amritsar of hundreds of people who joined Mr Singh's family to receive his body.
An autopsy will be done tonight in Patti near Amritsar and a helicopter will fly Mr Singh's body to Bhikhiwind, his ancestral village early tomorrow morning. The Punjab government has declared him a martyr and will accord him a state funeral there.
Across India, people have reacted furiously to Sarabjit's death; many mourned and candle light vigils were held. The government said it was "extremely inhuman and barbaric". The Indian Parliament condoled his death in a resolution.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has demanded that, "the criminals responsible for the barbaric and murderous attack on Sarabjit Singh must be brought to justice," and also regretted that, "the government of Pakistan did not heed the pleas of the government of India, Sarabjit's family and of civil society in India and Pakistan to take a humanitarian view of this case."
Pakistan had rejected three appeals from India in the last week that Mr Singh be treated at home. Latest developments suggest a new strain on bilateral relations. The BJP has demanded a down-scaling of ties.
The main opposition party has also accused the government of not trying hard enough to secure Mr Singh's release while he was alive.
His sister, Dalbir Kaur, who spent eight years campaigning for his release, said today, "My brave brother has become a martyr." She urged political parties to unite for a strong collective response to Pakistan. (
Read)
Two men have been arrested in Pakistan for Mr Singh's murder.
Sarabjit Singh was given the death sentence in 1991 for bombings a year earlier in Pakistan's Lahore and Faisalabad in which 14 people were killed. His family has said he was innocent.