Sarabjit family to visit Pak

Indian prisoner in deep coma; put on ventilator Amritsar/New Delhi (Agencies): Four members of Sarabjit Singh's family have been granted visa by the Pakistan High Commission to meet the Indian prisoner who is in "deep coma" and put on ventilator support after being assaulted by jail inmates in Lahore. Sarabjit's sister Dalbir Kaur on Saturday said the High Commission in Delhi had issued visa to the family and she along with his daughters Poonam, Swapandeep Kaur and the prisoner's wife Sukhpreet Kaur would be travelling to Lahore. Besides visa to four family members, she said government officials had informed her that Pakistan government has allowed one family member to stay in the Lahore hospital where Sarabjit, whose condition continues to be critical, is under treatment. On Friday night, Dalbir Kaur had made a strong appeal to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Minister of State for External Affairs Preneet Kaur to do the needful to arrange the visa for Pakistan so that the family could visit Sarabjit, who is on death row in Kot Lakhpat jail. Sarabjit was convicted for alleged involvement in a string of bomb attacks in Punjab province in Pakistan, that killed 14 people in 1990. His mercy petitions were rejected by the courts and former President Pervez Musharraf. His family says he is a victim of mistaken identity and had inadvertently strayed across the border. Meanwhile, hundreds of residents of border village Bikhiwind, from where Sarabjit hails, assembled outside the house of the prisoner to express solidarity and sympathy with the family. The villagers raised anti-Pakistan slogans and burnt an effigy of the Pakistan government. Entire Bikhiwind village also observed a shut-down to protest the attack on Sarabjit. A large number of activists of Shiv Sena (Bal Thackeray), held protest demonstrations in Amritsar and Phagwara against yesterday's incident.

Very sad: Manmohan New Delhi (PTI): Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Saturday said the murderous attack on Indian death row prisoner in Pakistan Sarabjit Singh was "very sad". "Yes, it is very sad, some inmates attacked him in jail. I think that is a very sad development," Manmohan Singh told reporters on the sidelines of a function at Rashtrapati Bhawan here. Human rights activist Ansar Burney, who plans to head to Lahore to meet Sabarjit, has raised serious concerns saying it was a suspicious attack.