Pakistan to grant access to Indian "spy"

NEW DELHI, Friday (Reuters) India said on Friday that Pakistan would provide diplomats access to a man sentenced to death for spying, after a public outcry over his fate.

Last week Pakistan's Supreme Court upheld a death sentence imposed on Manjit Singh in 1991 for spying for India's intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing, and involvement in bomb blasts in three Pakistani cities.

His family said Pakistan had got the wrong man, insisting the convict is actually Sarabjit Singh, a farmer who lived in a border village in the northern Indian state of Punjab and strayed into Pakistan in 1990 while drunk.

The Indian foreign ministry initially declined comment on the case, but after widespread media coverage of the man's family and their calls for help, sought access to the prisoner.

"They (Pakistan) have conveyed that consular access is being given. Details are awaited," the Indian foreign ministry said.

Singh's family members have threatened to commit suicide if he is executed, rousing emotions in Punjab, and resulting in appeals to Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf for clemency.

Pakistan Foreign Minister Khursheed Mehmood Kasuri has said he would speak to Musharraf about the Indian prisoner. India and Pakistan, which have fought three wars, are involved in a peace process but they still accuse each other's spy agencies of setting off bombs and fomenting internal strife..