Sarabjit to hang on Apr 1 | India appeals to Pak

FATE SEALED: Pak says it has no request for Sarabjit's clemency, India says it has no info on his execution date.

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Keywords: Pakistan, Sarabjit Singh

New Delhi: Pakistan on Tuesday said Indian national Sarabjit Singh - sentenced to death for involvement in four bomb blasts in Pakistan in 1990 – will be hanged on April 1.

“He would be hanged on the exact date (April 1) and there would be no delay in his hanging,” Interior Ministry Spokesman Brig Javed Iqbal Cheema was quoted by Pakistani media as saying.

Sarabjit, in Pakistan custody for last 17 years, had been convicted for his alleged involvement in bomb blasts in Lahore and Multan that killed about 14 people.

In March 2006, the Supreme Court of Pakistan rejected his plea for clemency and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf on March 3 rejected his mercy petition.

Pakistan also said it had not received any official communication from the Indian government seeking clemency for Sarabjit..

"As far as I know his hanging is fixed for April 1. We have not received any official communication (from India) in this regard," he said.

However, sources said the Indian Government had not yet received any official confirmation from Pakistani authorities about Sarabjit's execution.

The Pakistan government is also yet to respond to the Indian High Commission's request for consular access to Sarabjit to confirm the reports that he is to be hanged, Cheema sources told PTI.

"There are only media reports that Sarabjit is to be hanged and consular access had been sought to confirm these reports," a source said.

Sarabjit’s is family denies he was a spy as claimed by Pakistan and insists he accidentally strayed into Pakistani territory. PTI

Sarabjit's mercy petition was sent to Musharraf along with that of Indian prisoner Kashmir Singh, who was pardoned and freed after spending 35 years on death row in Pakistani jails.

Caretaker Human Rights Minister Ansar Burney, who played a key role in Kashmir Singh's release, said yesterday that he would not submit any petition in support of Sarabjit because his case was different as he had been "charged with terrorism".