Sarabjit Singh's hometown Bhikhiwind mourned his death on Thursday. A pall of gloom descended in this small town tucked away on the Indo-Pak border when the news of his death spread like fire across the village.
Waking up to the sad news of his demise, villagers started to throng Sarabjit's house from early morning. With the family away in New Delhi, there was no one at their house here.
Establishments in the town too remained shut since morning after receiving the news. Some residents also gathered outside the local gurdwara and protested against Pakistan.
"We were expecting a miracle to happen. We wanted Sarabjit to recover. What the Pakistanis have done is cowardly. He had suffered in their jails for nearly 23 years and now they have murdered him," a visibly upset Bhikhiwind resident Kirpal Singh said.
"Residents of the town were hoping and praying that Sarabjit would return in their midst one day. The Pakistani authorities have killed him by conspiracy," another resident Amrit Kaur said.
Residents of the town saw celebrations and disappointment within a few hours in June 2012, when reports first said that the Pakistan government had announced his release. However, in a flip-flop, the Pakistani authorities later clarified that not Sarabjit Singh but another Indian prisoner, Surjeet Singh, was being released.
Blame game, politicisation of Sarabjit's death
Some questions remained unanswered - whether he was a farmer who by mistake crossed the border or was a spy who triggered blasts in Pak killing 14 people. Moreover, his death was being politicized by the political parties, just like the issue of his death sentence, and bringing him back home.
The blame-game has been sparked off. While the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal in Punjab has held responsible the Congress-led UPA government's "weak kneed policies" for Sarabjit's cold-blooded murder and demanded "independent enquiry by international committee of Red Cross", the state Congress has accused the Pakistan govt for laxity and its failure to protect Sarabjit's life.
Badal, coming down heavily on the handling of the case by the Central Government, said: "This is gross diplomatic failure and a sign of weakness on the part of Union government. Nations are run with a degree of strength of will, which is so missing in this government. We have this very sad feeling that the Government of India failed to articulate the national sentiment on Sarabjit and did not even take the necessary diplomatic initiative at a level where it was called for."
lashing out at the Pak authorities, former chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh said: "Just because he was sentenced to death did not provide anyone licence to lynch him and the Pakistan government failed in its duty to protect him. It also reflected poorly not only on its government, but its judiciary as well, since Sarabjit was supposed to be in the custody of judiciary which had convicted and sentenced him to death.
SAD chief and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal find fault with the "lame duck attitude of Union Government" in handling Sarabjit's case, maintaining that "an earlier decisive and stern diplomatic move could have saved the life of Indian Citizen".
Union Minister of State and ludhiana MP Manish Tewari too criticized the Opposition for "politicising every issue. Even in a moment of grief, the only thing these people can think about is politics". Sukhbir's wife and Bathinda MP Harsimrat Badal alleged that Congress was playing politics over Sarabjit's death by not allowing leader from any other political party to meet the aggrieved family, even as scores of Congress leaders made a beeline to 'console' the grief stricken family.
Stressing that this was not the time to "politicize the issue", Union Minister of State for External Affairs Preneet Kaur, in defence, stated that the government had been proactive and never missed an opportunity to take up Sarabjit's case.
"For all those who are saying that ministry and the government has not been proactive enough, it is totally wrong….Opposition always makes charges. But, this is not the time to make a political issue of this sad event. We are doing everything we can and we will help Sarabjit's family in this case," she said.
SAD demands independent enquiry
Shiromani Akali Dal demanded an independent enquiry in the cold-blooded murder of Sarabjit in Kot lakhpat Jail, lahore. "An enquiry by International Committee of Red Cross is imperative to expose the utter human right violations in this case," said SAD chief Sukhbir Badal.
He said: "India should push Pakistan for an independent probe into Sarabjit's death. The way he was butchered in the jail is a direct violation of human rights. International Committee of the Red Cross should be involved."
Sarabjit body to undergo second autopsy
The body of Sarabjit Singh is scheduled to undergo a second autopsy by Indian doctors after it reached Amritsar.
The family of Sarabjit Singh has also given their formal consent for the autopsy, which Indian officials believe would help them ascertain the real cause of Sarabjit's death.
Sarabjit's kin, especially his sister Dalbir Kaur, had alleged, upon her return to India from lahore, that doctors at Jinnah hospital in lahore were providing shoddy treatment to Sarabjit.
The team of doctors at Jinnah hospital had called 'cardiac arrest' to be the cause of death at 1:30 am on the intervening night of Wednesday and Thursday.
Protests over Sarabjit's death
A series of protest demonstrations were held over Sarabjit 's death, leading to diversion of international buses running between Delhi and lahore in the neighbouring country.
Activists of Shiv Sena, led by its state unit vice-president Inderjit Karwal, took out a protest march from Hanumangarhi temple and converged on National Highway 1 at Sugar Mill crossing in Phagwara.
They blocked the traffic briefly in protest against the failure of Indian government to save Sarabjit. The protesters demanded cancellation of bus and train services to Pakistan, who they said must be dealt with sternly. Meanwhile, another group of activists belonging to the outfit, also staged a demonstration against Pakistan Government on the national highway near local bus stand.
Due to these protests, Sada-e-Sarhad lahore-Delhi international bus was diverted from village Mehtan to Phagwara bypass to national highway via Hargobind Nagar.