Sister of Indian prisoner who died in Pakistan protests at Attari

A sister of Kirpal Singh -- who died in Pakistan where he was jailed after conviction for spying -- on Tuesday protested at the Attari-Wagah integrated checkpost on the India-Pakistan border here over his death the previous day.

"My brother Kirpal has been murdered just like Sarabjit was earlier. The Pakistani jail authorities are responsible for his death," Jagir Kaur said during the protest.

Jagir Kaur was accompanied by many other protestors, among them Dalbir Kaur, the elder sister of Sarabjit Singh, another Indian who was murdered in a Pakistani jail.

The family demanded that Kirpal's body be handed over to them for cremation at his native village in Gurdaspur district.

Pakistani authorities had announced Kirpal's death on Monday, saying he complained of chest pain in Lahore's Kot Lakhpat Jail and was rushed to a hospital there. The authorities said Kirpal, 54, died due to heart failure.

In April 2013, death row prisoner Sarabjit Singh was brutally attacked and murdered by his fellow prisoners at the Kot Lakhpat Jail.

Both Jagir and Dalbir demanded a probe into the deaths of both the prisoners so that more Indians lodged in Pakistani jails did not suffer the same fate in future.

Kirpal had crossed into Pakistan in 1992 inadvertently, according to his family.

He was arrested in Pakistan and later convicted for a bomb blast. He was sentenced to death initially though the sentence was later commuted to 20-year jail term by a Pakistan court.

Despite demands from his family, he was not set free.