/> On Saturday, Bollywood's veteran actor and a leading spokesperson of the film industry Raza Murad returned from Amritsar with a new mission. To rescue Sarabjit Singh from his imprisonment and death sentence in Pakistan.

Sarabjit strayed into Pakistan from his village on the border of Punjab and was taken prisoner after being convicted for terrorism. For more than two decades now Sarabjit's family in Punjab has been fighting a desperate battle to prove the convicted Indian farmer's innocence and to obtain his release from the Lahore prison.

Sarabjeet, a cause celebre in the media for many years now, has found an unlikely messiah in Raza Murad.

Raza, known to be a vocal member of the Hindi film industry with strong opinions on matters pertaining to cinema and its running, has now decided to launch a ‘Sarbajit Bachao' campaign all the way to the Indian and Pakistan parliament. For this he will rope in the help of the entire Punjab entertainment industry which has in principle, agreed to back Raza Murad's new campaign.

Says Raza Murad, "We all know about Sarabjit's tragic case. He has languished in a Lahore prison for 21 years now. Even if he has done anything wrong, as the Pakistani government claims, his punishment has far exceeded the misdeed. It's time we woke up in one voice to ask for Sarabjit to be returned to India. "

Raza's ‘Sarabjit Bachao Andolan' was prompted by a visit to Amritsar last week. "I was at the Harminder Sahib (the Golden Temple) in Amritsar on Saturday. Sarabjit's family saw me on television and sought me out through a friend in Amritsar. I met his family, his wife, his daughter Poonam. "

It proved to be a life-changing experience for the actor. "It's one thing to read about someone's plight. But to see Sarabit's family's distress first-hand was a heart-rending experience, and one that I cannot bring myself to put aside and move on with life.

The suffering and pain that Sarabjit's wife Sukhprit Kaur and his two daughters have undergone shook me to my core. Sarabjit's daughter Poonam told me that she once went across border with food for her father in prison.

But it took three days for her to get permission to visit her father in jail. The food was spoilt by then. I was devastated by the daughter's grief. If as an actor with a voice I am not able to use my voice for this cause, then I am afraid my life is not worth much. "

Raza Murad has a definite plan. "I have formulated several levels of protest in my ‘Sarabjit Bachao Andolan'. The first level is to get the active participation of the entire Punjab entertainment industry.

I am also formulating and framing letters to the Indian Prime Minister and President. Letters to the Pakistan's Prime Minister and President are being sent through the Pakistani embassy, as too our memorandum of protest through the Ministry of External Affairs. "

A grand candelight protest is being planned at the Indo-Pak border by Raza and his likeminded frinds who only want freedom for an Indian who claims he has been wrongly jailed in Pakistan for crimes he never committed.

Ironically, Raza Murad has no plans of including his colleagues from Bollywood in his ‘Sarabjit Bachao Abdolan'

"It's pointless, " says Raza. "In my 41 years of experience in our film industry I've noticed that people make a lot of promises in the evening which they promptly forget in the morning. I don't want to waste any time in my effort to get Sarabjit released.

I want to concentrate on rallying the kind of support that would speeden Sarabjit's return to his home and family. We owe him his life back, whatever of it still remains. "

Falling silent Raza finally says, "I don't know what made Sarabjit's family reach out to me. But they have placed their trust in me to get him back. Maybe they're over-estimating my influence. But I am going to make a do-or-die effort for Sarabjit's release. I don't want to feel later that I didn't make an effort. I want my voice to be heard from the governments on both sides of the border. "