Family of Indian on death row in Pakistan appeals

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Musharraf rejected a plea for mercy from the Indian, Sarabjit Singh, on March 4 and a senior prison officer in the city of Lahore said he would be hanged on April 1.

Singh was sentenced to death in 1991 for spying and carrying out four bomb blasts that killed 14 people, but his family said he was innocent and had crossed the border into Pakistan accidentally in 1990 while he was drunk.

The Indian High Commission spokesman said in statement Singh's sister, Dalbir Kaur, sent an appeal for clemency to Musharraf and asked for permission to see her brother in prison.

"It is hoped that appeals from Sarabjit Singh's family, the government of India and others would be considered from all angles, including by the new government," the spokesman said, referring to Pakistan's yet to be formed new administration.

Pakistan's Foreign Office spokesman confirmed that the Indian government had approached the Pakistani government seeking clemency.

Pakistani officials said Singh was arrested while trying to slip back into India after the bomb blasts.

Nuclear-armed India and Pakistan have fought three wars since the partition of British-ruled India in 1947, but they began a peace process in 2004.

Despite better relations, the neighbours remain deeply suspicious of each other.