Agencies
Islamabad, Apr 24:
As the family of Sarbjit Singh prepared to meet him in a Lahore jail, Pakistan government on Thursday said it was "actively considering" India's request for clemency to the death row prisoner and will take a decision in "due course".
"The issue of Sarabjit Singh is under active consideration by the Pakistan government," Foreign Office spokesman Mohammad Sadiq told reporters when asked if the Indian national, sentenced to death for alleged involvement in the 1990 blasts in Punjab province, would be hanged.
"We have received a request from the Indian government. A decision will be taken in due course," he told reporters here, but did not provide details.
Sadiq's comments came as Sarabjit's family members were granted permission to meet him in Lahore's Kot Lakhpat jail, where he has been lodged.
"The Home Department of Punjab province has given us permission to go and meet Sarabjit and we will shortly be leaving to meet him," Sarabjit's sister Dalbir Kaur said.
Sarabjit's wife Sukhpreet Kaur and his daughters Swapandeep and Poonam along with his sister and her husband Baldev Singh arrived in Lahore on Wednesday from India crossing the Wagah border.
They are set to visit Sarabjit on Thursday itself in the jail, where a meeting with a death row prisoner is allowed for not more than an hour. However, the jail superintendent may extend the meeting time to 90 minutes, according to TV channels.
Earlier in the day, Pakistan President's office said that no mercy petition for the condemned Indian national was pending with it.
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