“Yes, the death sentence has been postponed for a month but he has not been granted mercy,” an official of the interior ministry said.

He said the ministry has received “information” that the president has ordered postponement of the execution of the death sentence for a month.

Sarabjit Singh, the Indian sentenced to death in 1991 for spying and carrying out four bomb blasts in Pakistan, was to be hanged on April 1 following Musharraf’s rejection of his mercy plea.

However, after pleas from human rights groups, the president postponed the hanging.

Sarabjit’s mercy appeal was pending before the president for long. However, there were expectations that like Kashmir Singh, an Indian spy who returned home last month after his mercy appeal was accepted by Musharraf, Sarabjit may also get mercy from the president.

Sarabjit Singh’s family has waged a public campaign in India for his release. Politicians, human rights activists and film stars have joined the Bikhiwind family’s campaign for his release.

ASMA BRINGS SOME HOPE
New Delhi, DHNS:  Expressing hope that Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh would get reprieve eminent Pakistani human rights activist Asma Jahangir said that the new democratic government might decide his case “in a positive manner.”

Asma, who is presently in India as the UN Special Rapporteur on “Freedom of Religion and Belief”, said President Pervez Musharraf was not paying heed to the demands of the Pakistan human rights activists about giving reprieve to Sarabjit, who was allegedly involved in the 1990 bomb blasts in Lahore and Multan that claimed 14 lives.

Speaking on the sidelines of a conference on “Freedom of Religion” in Jamia Milia Islamia here the chairperson of Pakistan National Human Rights Commission said: “People at high levels are working hard behind the scenes to get Sarabjit’s sentence postponed. We hope he gets reprieve.” Ms Jahangir also visited the National Human Rights Commission here on Wednesday and called on the NHRC Chairperson Justice S Rajendra Babu.