MUMBAI: When a celebrity takes up a cause, the message is, at the very least, heard. And when it is Salman Khan, its heard even better.

 

The Bollywood actor has been fervently appealing to the people of Pakistan to free Sarabjeet Singh, an Indian on death row in Kot Lakpat jail in Lahore, Pakistan since 1990. Salman has started an online petition through his philanthropic venture ‘Being Human’.

 

Sunday, Sarabjeet’s family – his sister Dalbir Kaur and daughters Poonam and Swapnadeep – met Salman Khan on the sets of ‘Dabanng 2 at Mehboob studio seeking his support. “"For over 20 years, Sarabjeet Singh is in a Pakistan prison for a crime he did not commit. He and his family have suffered for too long. Please sign this petition to appeal to the Pakistan government that he be freed and united with his family in Punjab," Salman posted on beinghumanonline.com.

 

Tracing History: Sarabjeet has been in a Pakistan jail for around 30 years now because Pakistani authorities consider him to be Manjit Singh, who was allegedly involved in the 1990 serial bomb blasts in Lahore and Faisalabad. But Sarabeeit claims that he is a farmer and victim of mistaken identity, who strayed into Pakistan from his village located on the border, three months after the bombing.

 

News reports on 26 June 2012 had indicated that he was to be set free. But within hours, Pakistan clarified that it was another prisoner, Surjeet Singh who was being freed, and not Sarabjeet.