Indian 'spy' gets month reprieve

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/world/south_asia/7304583.stm

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Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has given a one-month stay of execution to a convicted Indian spy who was due to be hanged on 1 April, officials say.

Officials have told the BBC that the Indian, Sarabjit Singh, has been informed of the postponement.

Singh, a prisoner of Lahore jail, was convicted for carrying out four bombings in two Pakistani cities in 1991 but insists he is innocent.

Indian media outlets have been campaigning for Singh to be spared.

He was jailed in Pakistan for involvement in the bomb blasts and espionage.

Indian High Commission spokesman Sanjay Mathur in Islamabad told the Associated Press news agency that the stay of execution was "informally communicated" to the diplomatic mission.

"The execution has been deferred until 30 April," he said.

Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday urged Pakistan to be "lenient" towards him.

President Musharraf rejected Singh's mercy petition earlier this month, a day after another Indian man, Kashmir Singh, was released following 35 years on death row in Pakistan on spying charges.

India and Pakistan have jailed hundreds of each other's soldiers and civilians over years of hostility.

Their relatives want the governments to exchange the prisoners.

The nuclear-armed neighbours have fought three wars since their independence from Britain in 1947.