India asks for leniency for spy

Swapandeep Kaur with a photo of her father, Sarabjit Singh

Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee has urged Pakistan to be "lenient" towards an Indian man set to be executed on terrorism charges.

Sarabjit Singh, a convict at Lahore jail, is to hang on 1 April, according to a death warrant reportedly signed by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf.

Singh was convicted of four bombings in two Pakistani cities in 1991 but insists he is innocent.

Indian media outlets have been campaigning for Singh to be spared.

Mr Musharraf rejected Singh's mercy petition earlier this month, a day after another Indian man, Kashmir Singh, was released following 35 years on death row in Pakistan for alleged spying.

Ansar Burney, a Pakistani minister who helped secure Kashmir Singh's release, said he would not intercede on Sarabjit Singh's behalf, the Press Trust of India reports.

India and Pakistan have jailed hundreds of each other's soldiers and civilians over years of hostility.