Sarabjit hanging put off by three weeks: Pak TV

ISLAMABAD - The execution of Indian national on death row, Sarabjit Singh, has been postponed by three weeks - just two days before his sentence was to be carried out, according to a Pakistani private news channel.
Dawn News TV channel said there has been a "procedural postponement" of Sarabjit's hanging, which was to take place May 1. However, Indian high commission officials here could not confirm the news. "We are trying to get this established by authorities," said an Indian diplomat.Dawn News said that a local court has to fix a fresh date for execution, which cannot be fixed before 21 days.Sarabjit was arrested and sentenced to death for five bomb blasts inthe cities of Lahore and Multan in Pakistan in 1990.Later, a two-member bench of the Supreme Court dismissed mercy appeals filed by the convict Manjit Singh (as Sarabjit is known in Pakistan), and upheld the death sentence. Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf also dismissed the mercy petition filed by Sarabjit.He was supposed to have been executed April 1, but his walk to the gallows was postponed for a period of 30 days.Sarabjit's family, who are now in Pakistan, met him for the first time in 18 years at Kot Lakhpat Jail last week.Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee is schduled to travel to Islamabad and meet his counterpart Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi May 21 for the first time since the new elected regime took office.