Pak says Kirpal Singh died of heart attack, India seeks post mortem report

With Pakistan claiming that Indian inmate Kirpal Singh died of a heart attack at a jail in Lahore, the Ministry of External Affairs has sought for official information on the cause of death and the post mortem report from Islamabad.

"According to Govt of Pakistan, Shri Kirpal Singh died on April 11 at 1455hrs due to heart attack. We await further details. Our Acting High Commissioner met DG South Asia in the Min of Foreign Affairs & asked for earliest possible repatriation of mortal remains," MEA official spokesperson Vikas Swarup said in a series of tweets.

Singh's sister Jagir Kaur told ANI that her family will do everything to ensure that his body returns home.

"We want our brother's dead body to be returned to us. At least we will think that we have seen our brother for the last time. We want to perform his last rites and cremation," she said.

The relatives of Kirpal Singh had yesterday staged a protest at the Attari border and raised anti-Pakistan slogans near the Integrated Check Post (ICP).

Apart from Kirpal's sister Jagir Kaur and his other relatives, also attending the protest was Dalbir Kaur, the sister of Sarbajit Singh, the Indian death row prisoner who was killed in an attack by fellow prisoners at Kot Lakhpat jail in Lahore.

Kirpal Singh, who was on death row in Pakistan and was in prison for the last 25 years, died in Lahore's Jinnah Hospital.

Singh, around 50, is said to have crossed over to Pakistan on February 29, 1992, and was arrested on alleged charges of being involved in a bomb explosion and for spying for which he was later sentenced to death.

He was acquitted of bomb charges by the Lahore High Court (LHC) but his death sentence wasn't commuted.