Source: Xinhua

ISLAMABAD, March 18 (Xinhua) — Indian High Commission in Pakistan on Tuesday said that the hanging of its national Sarabjit Singh, sentenced to death for involvement in bomb attacks in 1990,will “impinge on the positive atmosphere currently existing between India and Pakistan.”

“News reports that Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh will be hanged on April 1 have been met with dismay in India,” the News Network International news agency quoted an Indian High Commission statement as saying.

Local media reports quoted Pakistani officials as saying that Sarabjit would be hanged on April 1. Sarabjit was sentenced to death in 1991 for his alleged involvement in four bomb blasts in Lahore and Multan that killed 14 people. His family denies he was a spy as claimed by Pakistan and insists he accidentally strayed into Pakistani territory.

The Indian High Commission statement said that Sarabjit Singh’s imminent hanging was raised in the Indian Parliament both Tuesday and Wednesday. “Cutting across party lines, Members of Parliament urged that his life should be spared,” said the statement.

The Indian Minister for External Affairs Tuesday appealed to the government of Pakistan to treat Sarabjit Singh’s case with clemency on humanitarian grounds, it said.

“Today, Sarabjit Singh’s sister, Dalbir Kaur has sent a written appeal for clemency directly to His Excellency President Pervez Musharraf. She has also requested the President for permission to visit Pakistan to meet with Sarabjit Singh in jail,” said the statement.

It is hoped that appeals from Sarabjit Singh’s family, the government of India and others would be given a chance to be considered from all angles, including by the new government expected to take office in Pakistan soon, the statement said.

The statement said the two governments had been working on several initiatives designed to lead to an improvement of the situation for prisoners of either country. These include a new agreement on Consular Access and setting up of a Joint Judicial Committee on Prisoners. The Committee met recently in New Delhi and the Indian judges are due to visit Pakistan in early April.

“The government of India holds high hopes from such new institutional arrangements, as well as from the dialogue process with Pakistan, which it hopes very much that it can quickly resume,” the statement said.

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Tags: bomb, Death sentence, Hanging, India, Killings, Prisoner, Sarabjit Singh