Pakistan says sets date to hang Indian spy Sarabjit Singh

By Mubasher Bukhari

LAHORE, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has rejected the plea for mercy of an Indian convicted of spying and the man will be hanged on April 1, a senior prison officer in Lahore said on Sunday.

Sarabjit Singh was sentenced to death in 1991 for spying and carrying out four bomb blasts that killed 14 people.

Musharraf turned down Singh's petition for clemency on March 4, according to Javed Latif, the superintendent of Lahore's Kot Lakhpat prison.

"We have his death warrant and the execution will take place on April 1," he told Reuters.

Singh's family has said he crossed the border into Pakistan accidentally in 1990 while he was drunk.

Pakistani officials say he was arrested while trying to slip back into India after the bomb blasts.

On March 4, Musharraf accepted an appeal for mercy from and ordered the release of another Indian, Kashmir Singh, a convicted spy who had spent 35 years on death row in Pakistan.

Pakistan said he was released on humanitarian grounds.