Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh's killer shot dead by gunmen in Pakistan: Reports
Lahore/New Delhi, Apr 14: Amir Sarfaraz Tamba, an accused in the murder of Sarabjit Singh, the Indian death row prisoner in Pakistan, and a close associate of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terror outfit founder Hafiz Saeed, was killed by unidentified gunmen in an apparent "targeted attack" in Lahore on Sunday.
Tamba was attacked by motorcycle-borne assailants at his residence in Sanant Nagar, a thickly populated area of old Lahore in the afternoon. He was rushed in critical condition to a hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.
Police have registered an FIR against two unidentified assailants on the complaint of Tamba's younger brother Junaid Sarfraz. According to reports, Tamba’s body bore bullet wounds on chest and legs.
Singh, 49, died of cardiac arrest in Jinnah Hospital Lahore in the wee hours of May 2, 2013, after being comatose for nearly a week following a brutal assault by inmates, including Tamba, inside the high-security Kot Lakhpat jail in Lahore.
Singh had been allegedly found guilty of taking part in several bombings in Pakistan's Punjab province in 1990 and was given the death penalty. However, Singh's family in India maintained he was a victim of mistaken identity and had inadvertently strayed across the border.
His sister Dalbir Kaur had fought a long battle to secure his release from Pakistan but failed.
Dr Usman Anwar, Inspector General Police of Pakistan’s Punjab province, said that police are investigating the murder of Tamba from all aspects. “However, it will be premature to pinpoint involvement of anti-State elements at this stage,” he said.
According to the FIR, Junaid Sarfraz said he and his elder brother Amir Sarfraz Tamba were present at home in Sanant Nagar when the incident took place.
“I was present at the ground floor while Tamba was at the upper portion. The main gate of the house was open. Two unidentified motorcyclists -- one wearing helmet and other a facemask -- entered the house at 12.40 pm Sunday and moved towards the upper portion.
“They fired three shots at Tamba and fled from the scene. I rushed to the upper floor and found Tamba in a pool of blood. He was shifted to hospital where he succumbed to his wounds,” Juniad said in his complaint.
Tamba, son of Sarfaraz Javed, was born in Lahore in 1979 and was a close associate of the LeT founder, who felicitated him for killing Singh, official sources in India said.
In Lahore, police officer Sajjad Hussain told PTI that it appears to be a “targeted attack.”
Hussain said the younger brother of Tamba told police that the family had no enmity with anyone. He said police are also investigating Tamba's killing regarding his role in the alleged murder case of Sarbajit Singh.
Notorious as ‘Lahore ka asli don’, Tamba was part of the ‘Truckwalla gang’ and was engaged in the property trade and drug trafficking, the sources said, adding, he was involved in a clash recently with one of the gang members Ameer Balaj Tipu, who was later killed during a marriage reception in Lahore.
Tamba and his accomplice Mudassar -- two Pakistani death row prisoners -- had attacked Singh in 2013 resulting in his death.
Singh died before recording his statement before the doctors.
A Pakistani court in 2018 had acquitted them both in Singh’s murder case citing “lack of evidence” against them after all the witnesses turned hostile.
A one-man judicial commission of Justice Mazhar Ali Akbar Naqvi of Lahore High Court had initially investigated Singh’s murder case before the trial kicked off in the Sessions court.
Judge Naqvi recorded the statements of some 40 witnesses in the case and submitted its report to the government, which is yet to make its findings public.
The one-man commission had also issued notices to Singh’s relatives through the Foreign Ministry to record their statements and produce any evidence they had regarding his death.
However, Singh’s family did not record their statements.
Tamba and Mudassar, in their statements to the commission, had confessed to the crime and said they killed Singh as they wanted to avenge the killing of people in Lahore and Faisalabad in bomb blasts allegedly carried out by the Indian national.
Tamba was enjoying all facilities, including a mobile phone, inside the jail during his imprisonment, the sources said.
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Several Indians inducted into Russian Army remain missing: Report
New Delhi: In a concerning development, several Indians who were illegally enlisted in the Russian Army and forcibly sent to the war zone on the Russia-Ukraine border are reportedly still missing.
According to a report published by The Hindu on Sunday, citing communication from the Ministry of External Affairs and statements from the families of two missing men, Mohammad Amin Sheikh, a 65-year-old resident of Kupwara in Tangdhar, Jammu and Kashmir, said that his 27-year-old son, Zahoor Sheikh, last contacted the family on December 31, 2023.
Amin Sheikh mentioned that his son said that he was going for training and would not be available for the next three months on phone. “But when we started getting news about the deaths of Indians in Russia in January, we got worried and called on his number. We could not reach him. We are yet to hear from him,” Sheikh, a retired Inspector from the Public Health Department in Jammu and Kashmir, was quoted as saying by the publication.
Last week, Mohammad Amin Sheikh and his two other sons travelled to New Delhi to seek answers from the Ministry of External Affairs and the Russian Embassy after the Indian Embassy in Moscow failed to give them information about Zahoor Sheikh.
“We submitted a petition at the Russian Embassy,” 31-year-old Aijaz Amin, Zahoor Sheikh’s elder brother, told The Hindu. “They said they are looking into the matter. The MEA officials said that at least 15 Indians are still missing and though the Russian government is cooperative, their commanders on the ground are not responsive,” he added.
Zahoor had travelled to Russia after he came across a YouTube video promising the job of a security helper in Russia. Instead, he was reportedly deceived into joining the Russian Army.
Similarly, 30-year-old Mandeep, from Jalandhar in Punjab, has been missing since March. His brother, Jagdeep Kumar, also arrived in Delhi, looking for answers from the government about his sibling's whereabouts.
“We last spoke on March 3. He initially went to Armenia and was supposed to go to Italy from there in search of work. Instead, he was tricked by an agent to go to Russia and was forced to join the Russian Army. He was sent to the war zone after a few days of training,” Kumar told The Hindu.
Kumar said he met officials from the External Affairs Ministry in the capital city, who told him that at least 25 Indians were reported missing in Russia.
