Sarabjit update: Pak wants prisoner swap

ROAD AHEAD FOR SARABJIT: India's appeal for clemency has been forwarded to Musharraf.

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New Delhi: There now may be a ray of hope for Sarabjit Singh barely two weeks before his execution.

India has appealed to Pakistan to spare Sarabjit Singh.

“We appeal to the Government of Pakistan to treat Sarabjit Singh's case with clemency on humanitarian grounds,” External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said.

Within hours of the appeal, Pakistan acknowledged receiving India's request for clemency and indicated it has brought this to the notice of the President and Interior Ministry. The Ministry had already said Sarabjit would be executed on April 1.

Sources in Islamabad have told CNN-IBN that Pakistan may seek to bargain with India and win the release of its own nationals held in Indian prisons for terrorism and other crimes.

Earlier, Sarabjit's sister Dalbir Kaur had been making the rounds of political bigwigs in Delhi and had appealed to Rahul and Sonia Gandhi to save her brother.

Her appeals galvanised the politicians into action – the BJP, the CPM, the akalis all jumped to Dalbir's side and asked the Government to intervene on Sarabjit's behalf.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh also told Punjab Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal that his government had brought the case to President Musharraf's notice and would use all its influence to save Sarabjit.

India also upped the diplomatic stakes. New Delhi told Pakistan's new government-in-making and Musharraf's inner circle in no uncertain terms that hanging Sarabjit would vitiate bilateral relations

Pakistan, however, has been insisting that the case against Sarabjit is very different from that against Kashmir Singh.

Pakistan’s Minister for Human Rights, Ansar Burney had said on Tuesday, “There is a big difference between Kashmir Singh and Sarabjit Singh. Sarabjit Singh is accused of martyring many people here, and I have no sympathies with terrorists.”

But Burney did not rule out Sarabjit's hanging on April 1 and even indicated that the President may reconsider.

“Since he spent 18 years in jail, the President may consider converting his death sentence to life imprisonment,” Burney said.

“If there is an appeal for clemency for Sarabjit Singh, I will forward it to President and other authorities.”

Sources in Islamabad later told CNN-IBN that while it would be difficult for Pakistan to let Sarabjit go, they hinted that much would depend on whether India would be willing to negotiate the release of Pakistani nationals held in Indian prisons for terrorist and other crimes.

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