Amir Sarfaraz Tamba, the man accused of the brutal murder of Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh in Lahore in 2013, met a similar fate himself on Sunday when he was gunned down by unidentified assailants in the Pakistani city. Tamba, a close associate of Hafiz Saeed, the mastermind behind the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, was shot dead by bike-borne attackers in Lahore’s Islampura area. Despite being rushed to the hospital in critical condition, he succumbed to his injuries.
This incident comes six years after Tamba and another individual, Mudassar, were acquitted by a Pakistani court due to a ‘lack of evidence’ as all witnesses had turned hostile. Sarabjit Singh, a resident of Bhikhiwind in Punjab, had mistakenly crossed over to Pakistan in an inebriated state and was sentenced to death for alleged involvement in bomb blasts in Pakistan’s Punjab province in 1990, a charge vehemently denied by the Indian government.
Singh’s tragic fate unfolded in Lahore’s high-security Kot Lakhpat Jail, where he was brutally attacked by fellow inmates with bricks and rods, leading to his death from cardiac arrest in Jinnah Hospital in May 2013. Throughout his two-decade incarceration, Singh’s sister Dalbir Kaur tirelessly fought for his release, maintaining his innocence and advocating for his return to India. Kaur, who passed away in June 2022 and was cremated in Bhikhiwind, had always believed in her brother’s innocence and had even traveled to Pakistan to see him.
The cycle of violence and tragedy surrounding Sarabjit Singh’s case continues to haunt both nations, underscoring the need for justice and peace in the region.