ISLAMABAD, March 18: The government has decided not to entertain a fresh clemency appeal from the Indian government for an Indian convict, Sarabjit Singh, who is to be executed on April 1.

“He would be hanged on the exact date (April 1) and there would be no delay,” Interior Ministry spokesman Brig (retd) Javed Iqbal Cheema said on Tuesday.

He said at his weekly media briefing that the government had received a fresh mercy appeal from the Indian government but it would not be entertained.

The date of the execution was fixed after President Pervez Musharraf turned down his mercy petition. He has been convicted by superior courts of the country for committing acts of terrorism in Pakistan.

A notification for his execution has been sent to the Punjab government because the convict was in the custody of the Punjab police.

Mr Cheema said four American nationals who received injuries in a blast at an Italian restaurant in Islamabad were not personnel of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

“One of them was a legal attaché of the US embassy and three others were his subordinates,” he added. The spokesman said they had flown back to their country the day after the blast.