NEW DELHI: India on Tuesday appealed to Pakistan for clemency on humanitarian grounds to Sarabjit Singh who is to be hanged on April.
 

In spite of the discouraging notes from Islamabad, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said his Government has taken up the matter at the highest level.

The government is making all possible efforts to seek a reprieve for Sarabjit, the Prime Minister said in reply to a letter from Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal.

Sarabjit was sentenced to death for alleged involvement in the 1990 bomb blasts in Lahore and Multan that claimed 14 lives.

"We appeal to the Government of Pakistan to treat Sarabjit Singh's case with clemency on humanitarian grounds," External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said in a suo motu statement in Lok Sabha.

"He is not a criminal," Sarabjit's daughter Sawandeep said in Bhikhiwind in Punjab, claiming it was a case of "mistaken identity".

Sarabjit's sister Dalbir Kaur on Tuesday met Congress President Sonia Gandhi in Delhi and said she had been assured of all possible support.

She also met Mukherjee and Railway Minister Lalu Prasad. She has sought an appointment with the Prime Minister. Kaur had met AICC General Secretary Rahul Gandhi  Monday, appealing to him to take up her brother's cause with the government.

According to the Pakistani media reports President Pervez Musharraf had rejected Sarabjit's mercy petition and the death warrant has been received at Lahore's Kot Lakhpat jail.