A request for consular access to Sarabjit, who officials here said will be hanged on April 1 after spending 17 years in jail for alleged involvement in 1990 bomb blasts in Lahore and Multan, has been sent to Pakistani authorities, Indian High Commission sources said.

It had been indicated to them that hanging him “might not be the best way to deal with the situation in the prevailing circumstances”, the sources said.

Top officials at Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat jail, including its Superintendent Javed Latif, said on Sunday that they had received the death warrant for Sarabjit and he would be executed on April 1. Sarabjit’s lawyer Rana Abdul Hamid said that there was “no legal option” left to save his client.

Sarabjit could be saved only if President Pervez Musharraf granted him a pardon or if there was some “extraordinary understanding” between the India and Pakistan, Hamid said. A mercy petition of Sarabjit, who Pakistan claims is Manjit Singh, was rejected by Musharraf on March 3. Sarabjit was sentenced to death in 1991. Officials from the Indian High Commission were last granted consular access in 2005.

Meanwhile, in New Delhi, Minister of State for External Affairs Anand Sharma said, “In the Sarabjit Singh case, we had earlier also conveyed the strong sentiments of our people and requested for some clemency and reprieve to him. We hope that considering humanitarian aspects, some leniency would be shown to him (Singh).”