No clemency plea for Sarabjit from India: Pak

Islamabad, March 18: Pakistan on Tuesday said it has not received any official communication from the Indian government seeking clemency for its national Sarabjit Singh. Singh will be hanged on April 01 for his alleged involvement in terrorist attacks in Pakistan. Interior ministry spokesman Javed Iqbal Cheema said there has not been any official contact by the Indian government on the issue of clemency for Sarabjit, who is set to be executed following the rejection of his mercy petition by President Pervez Musharraf. "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 when asked at a weekly news briefing if the Indian government had submitted any plea on Sarabjit`s behalf. 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, the sources told reporters. "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 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. Bureau Report

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Mr. Manmohan Singh is still sleeping. It was only in the case of Mohammad Haneef that he could not sleep and had to do something. Why lose sleep when the victim is a Hindu? - K.Venugopal - Mumbai