Awais Sheikh, the Lahore-based lawyer of Indian death-row prisoner Sarabjit Singh, on Friday claimed that he had received a threat from the Tehreek-e-Taliban for taking up the case. The threat was made through a letter addressed to his wife that was delivered at their residence on Friday morning, hours before Mr. Sheikh was to release his book on Singh.
The letter was written by an unnamed person who claims to belong to Tehreek-e-Taliban and is a resident of Faislabad. Apparently, the letter is authored by someone whose entire family had been killed in the blast for which Singh is facing a death sentence. The letter asks Mr. Sheikh’s wife to dissuade her husband from addressing the media about Singh and championing his case, warning of dire consequences including the kidnapping and murder of their children.
Later on Friday, Mr. Sheikh was not allowed to have the book launch at the Lahore Press Club as planned. The Club said it had decided to cancel the function to launch the book – `Sarabjit Singh: A Case of Mistaken Identity’ -- in view of security threats.
Following the hanging of Afzal Guru for the attack on Indian Parliament House, the demand for executing Singh has been stepped up by various right wing organizations including the Jamat-ud-Da’wah.
