Plea for India 'spy' on death row

The nations have fought three wars but ties have recently improved

The family of an Indian facing the death penalty in Pakistan for allegedly carrying out bomb attacks has pleaded for his life.

Last week, Pakistan's Supreme Court upheld the death sentence on Manjit Singh, who Islamabad says is an Indian intelligence agent.

But his family says it is a case of mistaken identity and that his real name is Sarabjit Singh.

They have threatened to commit suicide if the death sentence is carried out.

"My brother is completely innocent," Dalbir Kaur, who says she is Singh's sister, told the BBC.

I can't understand why they keep insisting my little brother is Manjit Singh, an Indian spy Dalbir Kaur

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

"If they kill Sarabjit, we will all also make five nooses and hang ourselves.

"The government of India and Pakistan will be responsible for our deaths."

The family has appealed to the Indian president and prime minister to intervene in the matter.

A number of MPs on Monday also appealed in parliament for the government to take up Singh's case.

External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh later told journalists: "We will look into it."

Mistaken identity?

Singh was convicted and sentenced by a special court in Lahore in 1991.

But Ms Kaur says they can prove that Pakistan has got the wrong man.

"To prove his real identity I made copies of his ration card, his driving licence, voter's identity card, all his school certificates."

She says the documents were handed to Pakistani rights activist Asma Jahangir.

But she said the Pakistani court rejected the documents.

"I can't understand why they keep insisting my little brother is Manjit Singh, an Indian spy," said Ms Kaur.

India and Pakistan have fought three wars since independence in 1947 but relations have been steadily improving since a peace process began nearly two years ago.