India says Pakistan will not execute spy – report

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Pakistan has assured New Delhi it
will not execute an Indian convicted of spying and a series of
bomb blasts after his death sentence sparked outrage and
demonstrations across India, a newspaper reported on Tuesday.

India had been told Singh’s case had become an “emotive
issue”" and the sentence would not be implemented and that
Singh may even be granted clemency and freed, The Hindu daily
said, quoting anonymous Indian officials.

Pakistani officials were not immediately available for
comment. The report comes after the chief witness against Singh
recanted and said the Punjabi farmer was innocent.

Singh’s wife and some other family members have threatened
to commit suicide if he is executed and supporters across India
have protested, signed petitions and some have gone on hunger
strikes.

Singh’s family says he is a poor farmer from a border
village who accidentally wandered into Pakistan in 1990.

The controversy comes at a time when India and Pakistan are
trying to speed a slow moving peace process. The Indian
government has pressed for clemency for Singh ahead of talks
between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistani President
Pervez Musharraf in New York this month..

Death sentences are often handed down but rarely carried
out in Pakistan.