By IANS
New Delhi : The hanging of Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh in Pakistan has been put on hold until April 30, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee told the Lok Sabha Wednesday.
“I am happy to inform the house that high commissioner of India in Islamabad informed a little while ago that President of Pakistan Pervez Musharraf has stayed the execution of Sarabjit Singh till April 30,” said Mukherjee.
Sarabjit Singh was arrested in 1990 near the India-Pakistan border. He was charged and later convicted for spying as well as carrying out four bombings that killed 14 people and injured dozens more in Lahore and Faisalabad.
Pakistan’s Supreme Court upheld his 1991 death sentence in 2006 and he was scheduled to be executed April 1.
Mukherjee told the lower house of the parliament that the government was “continuing its efforts to secure the life of Sarabjit Singh”.
Terming the staying of execution as a “partial success”, the minister assured the house that the government would take every step to save Sarabjit Singh.
The members present in the house received Mukherjee’s announcement with thumping applause.
Public opinion in India has been strongly in favour of clemency for Sarabjit Singh.