Send Sarajbit to third country for treatment

Expressing concern at death row prisoner Sarabjit Singh's deteriorating condition, India has proposed to Pakistan to send him to a third country for "proper treatment" and said "every endeavour" should be made to save his life.

"We are concerned at the condition of Shri Sarabjit Singh indicated by reports made available by doctors treating him in Jinnah Hospital," said a statement issued here by the external affairs ministry.

"Our High Commissioner has met the Pakistan Foreign Secretary and urged the Government of Pakistan to immediately release Shri Sarabjit Singh on humanitarian and sympathetic grounds so that he can benefit from the best available treatment in India," it said.

"Alternatively we have also proposed that Shri Sarabjit Singh should be sent to a third country for proper medical treatment," the statement added.

"This is not the time for invoking legal and bureaucratic reasons for not taking the right steps to save a human life. We believe that every endeavour should be made to save his life," the statement said.

Sarabjit, 49, had suffered critical head injuries in and unprovoked and sudden assault by four to five prisoners April 26. He has been on ventilator life support since.