Member asks Islamic body to help Sarabjit get clemency

New Delhi, Apr 25 (UNI) A member of the International Advisory Board of the Council of Islamic Ideology has asked the organisation to use its offices in helping Sarabjit Singh get clemency under the Islamic criminal law.

Prof Tahir Mahmood, a member of the Law Commission of India and the international advisory board of the Council of Islamic Ideology, has written a letter to the chairman of the body seeking its intervention on humanitarian grounds to save Sarabjit Singh from the gallows.

''I have absolutely no intention to interfere in any way in Pakistan's legal sysyem. But...I do wish to say that the case merits Council's intervention on humanitarian grounds,'' he said in his letter sent twice on Aprl 18 and April 23 to Dr Mohd Khalid Masood, chairman of the Islamabad-based Council.

He claimed a ''remarkable'' liberalism was found under the Islamic criminal law in the matter of granting clemency and showing mercy to people accused of criminal acts.

''Its (Council's) generous intervention in the case will go a long way in furthering still better relations between our two beloved countries,'' he added.

Pakistan had yesterday said it was actively considering an Indian plea for clemency for Sarabjit Singh, an Indian citizen condemned to death in 1991 for spying and carrying out four bomb blasts, killing 14 people.

However, his family said he was innocent and had crossed the border into Pakistan accidentally in 1990 while he was drunk.

Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf last month rejected a mercy plea from Singh, but deferred his execution until April 30 after a request from the Indian government.

UNI NAB GL HS1634