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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 today said that the High Commission in Delhi has 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.
However, she did not say when they will leave for Pakistan.
Besides visa to four family members, she said government officials have 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.
Last 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.
Led by its state vice-president Inderjit Karwal, the Sena activists burnt an effigy of Pakistan government and its flag in Phagwara.
Addressing the protesters rally at Phagwara, Karwal demanded foolproof security not only for Sarabjit but also for other Indian prisoners languishing in Pakistan jails. He also alleged that despite serious threats to the life of Sarabjit, he was not provided proper security and the attack was part of a "deep-rooted conspiracy."
Sarabjit, 49, is in an Intensive Care Unit of the state-run Jinnah Hospital in Lahore where he was admitted yesterday after being brutally beaten by at least six other prisoners within his barrack at the Kot Lakhpat Jail.
