Indian diplomats, who met an Indian prisoner facing the death penalty in Pakistan, appealed Tuesday for his release on humanitarian ground.

Counselor Visa Deepak Kaul and S.C Sharma, visa attache, from Indian High Commission in Islamabad met Sarabjit Singh earlier Tuesday in a Lahore prison after consular access was granted.

Deepak Kaul told reporters after the meeting that the release of Sarabjit would pave the way for the release of prisoners in jails of the two countries.

The meeting came at a time when India and Pakistan have concluded talks in New Delhi on the fate of prisoners stuck in jails on both sides of the border, as well as on cooperation in anti-terrorism and anti-narcotics efforts.

Sarabjit was sentenced for carrying out a series of bomb blasts in 1990 by an anti-terrorism court in Lahore. Islamabad says he was working for an Indian intelligence agency.

Deepak Kaul said that more than one-hour meeting with Sarabjit was held in cordial atmosphere and that the Indian High Commission would pursue the case.

Deepak Kaul said the prisoner had given a message to his family, but he did not divulge contents of the message.

The diplomats confirmed the identity of Sarabjit that he was an Indian national and said that they would send the meeting's report to the Indian government.

On Aug. 18, Pakistan's Supreme Court upheld Sarabjit's death sentence. Since then, his family has been pleading for his release, threatening suicide if the sentence is carried out. But so far there has been no move to pardon him.

Pakistan Foreign Ministry spokesman Muhammad Naeem Khan said Monday that Sarbjit confessed his crimes and that the punishment given to him on the basis of evidence.

Khan said Sarabjit had carried out bomb blasts in the Pakistani cities of Lahore, Kasur and Faisalabad.

Source: Xinhua