02 May,2013 07:59 PM IST | | Agencies
The body of Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh arrived here Thursday evening from Lahore on a special Air India flight.
The aircraft carrying the body landed in Amritsar almost one hour behind expected time after red-tape by Pakistani customs and anti-narcotics departments delayed its departure from the Lahore international airport. The flight was held up as clearances were sought before allowing it to take off.
The flight landed at Guru Ram Das Rajasansi international airport just minutes later.
It was a grim end to the battle waged by his family to secure his release after he had spent over two decades in Pakistani jails as the plane landed at Rajasansi Airport where political leaders, including Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal and Minister of State for External Affairs Preneet Kaur, were present to receive the body.
Sarabjit Singh. File pic
The body is to be taken to Government Hospital for autopsy and would be handed over to the family at village Bikhiwind for a state funeral tomorrow.u00a0
Punjab government has announced a financial assistance of Rs one crore for the family of Sarabjit and declared a three-day state mourning.u00a0
Flags will fly half mast on all government buildings and there will be no official ceremonial functions during this period, an official spokesman said.u00a0
The body was flown out of the Lahore International Airport after receiving clearance from Pakistani authorities. Indian High Commission officials had earlier in the day received the body of Sarabjit after an autopsy was performed at the Jinnah Hospital where he succumbed to his injuries on Thursday at 1:30 AM (IST).u00a0
A six-member medical board in Pakistan had earlier completed the autopsy on Sarabjit, a media report said.
The autopsy was performed at the Jinnah Hospital in Lahore where Sarabjit was admitted a week ago after being savagely assaulted by two prisoners in jail, Geo News reported.
Sarabjit, the second Indian prisoner to die in Pakistan's notorious Kot Lakhpat jail here in Lahore this year, was brutally attacked on Friday by six fellow inmates when he and other prisoners were brought out of their cells for a break.
Sarabjit died of cardiac arrest after being comatose for nearly a week following the assault. He was convicted of alleged involvement in bomb attacks in Punjab province that killed 14 people in 1990 and spent about 22 years in Pakistani prisons.
His mercy petitions were rejected by the courts and former President Pervez Musharraf. The previous Pakistan Peoples Party-led government put off Sarabjit's execution for an indefinite period in 2008. Sarabjit's family says he was the victim of mistaken identity and had strayed across the border in an inebriated state.u00a0
