November 14, 2002	Thursday	Ramazan 8, 1423

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window)

WASHINGTON, Nov 13: Pakistan has sent an official request to the governor of Virginia, asking him to commute Kasi’s death sentence to life imprisonment, diplomatic sources told Dawn on Wednesday.

The governor has not yet responded to the request sent to him about three weeks ago, the sources said.

The move shows a reversal of the government’s earlier position that it would not interfere in America’s judicial affairs and might have been forced by growing resentment at home over Kasi’s impending execution.

The US officials say that with only a day left to Kasi’s scheduled execution on Thursday evening, the governor is not likely to respond favourably to Pakistan’s request.

They say that Kasi has also made it difficult for the US administration to pardon him by politicizing the issue. Kasi, who killed two CIA employees outside the agency’s headquarters in 1993, says he did so to avenge America’s hostile attitude against the Muslims.

Meanwhile, US officials moved Kasi’s two brothers, who were staying at a hotel in Washington, to an undisclosed location to help them prepare to receive his body, the sources said.

They said that the brothers have been meeting Kasi almost twice a week since they arrived in the United States last month.

However, the prison officials are not allowing anyone else to meet the prisoner. A meeting request by the officials of the Pakistan Embassy was also ignored, the sources said.