The question of executing Sarabjit Singh’s death penalty has once again brought the focus on the increasing relevance of a humanitarian element in Indo-Pak relations. Refreshingly enough, the Pakistani leadership has recognised that it cannot disregard the human angle while it deals with matters concerning India. Thus, the Musharraf administration has suspended the scheduled April 1 execution until the month-end.

True, this is only a temporary relief  for the Indian national who has spent 17 years in Pakistani jails, for some years as a convict on the death row. But that is quite significant in so far as the status of the case is concerned. The facts of the case are that Sarabjit’s lawyers in Pakistan had long back exhausted all available legal options to save him from the gallows, Musharraf has subsequently rejected his appeal for clemency and the “black warrant” for his execution had been issued.

No doubt, as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh himself stated on Tuesday, the Indian government has stepped in to impress upon the Pakistani leadership to save Sarabjit from the gallows. Delhi will persist with its efforts and utilise the 30-day reprieve to secure clemency for Sarabjit on “humanitarian grounds.” Fortunately, the Pakistani leadership is as aware of the plight of Sarabjit’s sister, wife and his two daughters as the Indian leadership is.

Evidently, the increased people-to-people interaction between the two countries is having desired effects as people in the two countries have begun to think and react alike on many issues.

But for this positive change, Kashmir Singh, the Indian national who spent almost 35 years in Pakistani jails, would not have been back in India early this month. But Kashmir Singh has unwittingly made it difficult for the Pakistani leadership to extend the same leniency to Sarabjit with his post-release remark that he was indeed an Indian spy.

The announcement of the custodial death of Khalid Mehmood, a Pakistani national, in India soon after Kashmir Singh’s release will also hardly make things any easier for Islamabad while dealing with the plea for reprieve for Sarabjit. Yet, this is the best time for the leadership of the two countries to extend the scope of the new humanitarian factor in shaping their policies and attitudes towards each other. In the immediate context this will save Sarabjit from the hangman’s noose while in a broader context a large number of Indian and Pakistani nationals languishing in each other’s jails can hope to walk free.