ISLAMABAD, Feb 11: Federal minister for human rights Ansar Burney on Monday said efforts were underway for the early release of an Indian national languishing in a Pakistani jail for the last 35 years on espionage charges.

The minister said he had traced Kashmir Singh, son of Sansar Singh, to a death cell of the central prison Lahore, where he has been languishing after being sentenced to death under the Official Secret Act 1923 by the court of Field General Court Martial in 1973.

Mr Burney, also a human rights activist, said he had been informed about Singh’s case several years ago by members of the Indian community in London. However, at that time he had been unable to locate him in his capacity as chairman of the Ansar Burney Trust.

He said after taking over as minister, he visited over 20 prisons across the country in relation to his prison reforms programme and to search for a number of prisoners who he and his organisation had been trying to locate for many years. He said during a visit to the central jail Lahore he came across Singh - now a weak, old and mentally disturbed man - in a death cell.

His details were immediately called from the prison authorities and it was revealed that Singh had been confined for over three decades in the death cell and during all these years he had never received a single visitor or even seen the open sky.

He said like other condemned prisoners, Singh was locked in an overcrowded death cell for 23.5 hours a day and allowed out only for 30 minutes to stretch his legs.

At the time of his arrest, Singh, who belongs to the Indian province of Punjab, was married and had three young children - two sons and a daughter.

The minister said a summary had been prepared on behalf of the human rights division to President Pervez Musharraf for the early release of Mr Singh.

He said when he informed the president about the case, he expressed shock and disbelief, and promised to accept his mercy appeal and order his release in the coming days.

The minister said he had also met the Indian high commissioner in Islamabad and informed him about the case and to help locate Mr Singh’s family in India.