Pakistan grants access to 'spy'

ISLAMABAD, Wednesday (BBC) Pakistan says it has accepted a request from the Indian High Commission in Islamabad for access to an Indian facing the death penalty.

Manjit Singh was sentenced by an anti-terrorism court for carrying out a series of bomb explosions in 1990 as part of Indian intelligence.

The family say it is mistaken identity and have threatened to commit suicide if the execution is carried out.

Last week, Pakistan's Supreme Court upheld the death sentence.

The BBC's Zaffar Abbas says since the case has gone through the entire judicial process, it is unclear whether anything short of President Pervez Musharraf's direct intervention can save his life. Indian PM Manmohan Singh has said he will raise the issue with President Musharraf.

Pressure has been mounting on the Indian government to secure his release. Several MPs from Punjab, particularly those representing the opposition Akali Dal and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had raised the issue in parliament.

The BJP MP from Punjab's Amritsar constituency, Navjot Singh Sandhu, said the Indian government must find some way to free the man.

The man's family say he is really Sarabjit Singh and have appealed to the Indian president and prime minister to intervene.

Earlier, the convicted man's sister - Dalbir Kaur - met Indian Foreign Minister Natwar Singh. Ms Kaur said the foreign minister had assured her that the Indian government would do its best to secure his release.

She said she was now hopeful. "My brother is completely innocent," Dalbir Kaur told the BBC.

She says her brother had accidentally crossed into Pakistan in 1990.

Singh is from Bhikiwind, 450km (290 miles) north-west of Delhi.

For years, India and Pakistan have regularly accused people who strayed across the border of spying.

Dozens are still in jails in both countries, though both India and Pakistan have freed several prisoners in recent months.