Manish Tewari slams Pakistan, BJP over Sarabjit's death

Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari strongly criticised Pakistan over the death of Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh saying, “What happened was inhuman, barbaric and that is not the manner in which a civilised state treats prisoners in their custody”. [caption id=“attachment_745257” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Screengrab from CNN-IBN[/caption] “An Indian prisoner has been murdered in cold blood in the custody of the Pakistan state, and they must be held accountable”, he added, calling the incident an ‘abject failure of the Pakistan state’. Tewari said that the Indian government had been repeatedly pursuing that a humanitarian view needed to be taken with Sarabjit Singh ever since 2005, when the Prime Minister of India had first brought it up with the Pakistan government. “Our hearts, minds, are one with the family of Sarabjit Singh. We stand by them and will do everything we can to facilitate the return of his body”, he added. The Minister also said he hoped that today everyone would rise above political parties and condemn the barbaric death. However he took the time out to hit out at the BJP, saying that they were seeking to politicise even something as tragic as the brutal death of an Indian citizen who has been brutally murdered. “I would like to respectfully ask the BJP what they did when they were in power. They are shedding crocodile tears now, but did not even lift a single little finger to even provide consular access to Sarabjit”, he said. “I am sorry to use such language, but it really violates me as an Indian citizen to see how they are playing politics with the death of a political prisoner”, Tewari added.