Post by CCADP on Aug 26, 2005 7:31:49 GMT -5
Pakistan to give India access to spy on death row
Fri Aug 26, 2005 4:38 PM IST
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NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Pakistan on Friday agreed to allow Indian diplomats meet an Indian man sentenced to death for spying, officials of the two countries said, a first step to confirm his identity after a public outcry over his fate.
Islamabad's decision came as New Delhi said it would urge Pakistan to treat the issue of prisoners in each others' jails as a humanitarian problem and resolve it.
"The issue of prisoners ... will be raised during the home secretary level talks, and when I go to Islamabad," Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran told a news conference, referring to talks between Indian and Pakistani officials due next week. "We will certainly discuss how the issue of prisoners on both sides ... can be seen and resolved as a humanitarian problem," Saran said.
The traditional rivals were locked in a new row after Pakistan's Supreme Court last week upheld a death sentence imposed on Manjit Singh in 1991 for spying for India and involvement in bomb blasts in three Pakistani cities.
His family said Pakistan had got the wrong man, insisting the convict is actually Sarabjit Singh, a farmer who lived in a border village in the northern Indian state of Punjab and strayed into Pakistan in 1990 while drunk.
Singh's family members have threatened to commit suicide if he is executed, resulting in appeals to Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf for clemency.
The episode has also renewed focus on the plight of hundreds of Indian and Pakistani prisoners held by the other side, mostly fishermen and civilians who accidentally stray across sea and land boundaries.
"We have been talking about a release of civilian and other prisoners, including fishermen, who are currently in the custody of Pakistan," Saran said.
"We also have said that as a humanitarian gesture ... we have agreed to release a very large number of Pakistani prisoners in Indian jails."
But Saran said that this plan was not a prisoner swap for Sarabjit Singh's freedom.
India and Pakistan, who have fought three wars, are involved in a peace process but they still accuse each other's spy agencies of setting off bombs and fomenting strife.
Hardline Islamists in Pakistan urged Musharraf on Thursday not to pardon the spy.
Death sentences are often handed down but rarely carried out in Pakistan. Singh's lawyer is due to seek a review of the sentence and if it fails, an appeal for clemency will be made.
There is no time limit for the sentence to be carried out.
© Reuters 2005. All Rights Reserved.
Fri Aug 26, 2005 4:38 PM IST
Printer Friendly
Top News
Pakistan to give India access to spy on death row
Indian pacemen strike early, New Zealand recover to 215
FEATURE - Endangered vultures highlight Parsi culture clash
Pakistan sentences five to death in Musharraf plot
U.S. to brief India on PAC-3 missile defense
MORE
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Pakistan on Friday agreed to allow Indian diplomats meet an Indian man sentenced to death for spying, officials of the two countries said, a first step to confirm his identity after a public outcry over his fate.
Islamabad's decision came as New Delhi said it would urge Pakistan to treat the issue of prisoners in each others' jails as a humanitarian problem and resolve it.
"The issue of prisoners ... will be raised during the home secretary level talks, and when I go to Islamabad," Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran told a news conference, referring to talks between Indian and Pakistani officials due next week. "We will certainly discuss how the issue of prisoners on both sides ... can be seen and resolved as a humanitarian problem," Saran said.
The traditional rivals were locked in a new row after Pakistan's Supreme Court last week upheld a death sentence imposed on Manjit Singh in 1991 for spying for India and involvement in bomb blasts in three Pakistani cities.
His family said Pakistan had got the wrong man, insisting the convict is actually Sarabjit Singh, a farmer who lived in a border village in the northern Indian state of Punjab and strayed into Pakistan in 1990 while drunk.
Singh's family members have threatened to commit suicide if he is executed, resulting in appeals to Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf for clemency.
The episode has also renewed focus on the plight of hundreds of Indian and Pakistani prisoners held by the other side, mostly fishermen and civilians who accidentally stray across sea and land boundaries.
"We have been talking about a release of civilian and other prisoners, including fishermen, who are currently in the custody of Pakistan," Saran said.
"We also have said that as a humanitarian gesture ... we have agreed to release a very large number of Pakistani prisoners in Indian jails."
But Saran said that this plan was not a prisoner swap for Sarabjit Singh's freedom.
India and Pakistan, who have fought three wars, are involved in a peace process but they still accuse each other's spy agencies of setting off bombs and fomenting strife.
Hardline Islamists in Pakistan urged Musharraf on Thursday not to pardon the spy.
Death sentences are often handed down but rarely carried out in Pakistan. Singh's lawyer is due to seek a review of the sentence and if it fails, an appeal for clemency will be made.
There is no time limit for the sentence to be carried out.
© Reuters 2005. All Rights Reserved.