ISLAMABAD, Nov 26: Pakistan has turned down India’s request to release spy Sarabjeet Singh who is on death row for his involvement in a series of bomb blasts in Lahore in 1990.

According to sources, the request was turned down at the concluding session on Wednesday of the two-day talks between home secretaries of the two countries.

However, a joint statement issued by the interior ministry did not mention the issue, although it was on the meeting’s agenda.

Indian Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta told Indian journalists at the Indian Embassy the matter remained under discussion but the Pakistani side did not give a final word on it.

The Pakistani side, led by Interior Secretary Syed Kamal Shah, was of the view that there was no law in the country to commute death sentence into life imprisonment. The Indian team said the convict, who had completed the life term after having remained in jail for 17 years, should be released on humanitarian grounds even if there was no such law in Pakistan.

The Indian spy’s two appeals for pardon have been turned down by the president and the date of his execution has been extended twice.

The two sides agreed to view the issue of inadvertent crossing from a humanitarian dimension and called for early finalisation of a draft agreement on the matter by the experts’ group on conventional CBMs.

They also agreed to implement the joint anti-terrorism mechanism to curb terrorist attacks in their respective countries.

The secretary-level talks on terrorism and drug trafficking were part of the composite dialogue process between Pakistan and India.

According to the joint statement, both sides discussed the issues of terrorism and drug trafficking and reviewed the implementation of decisions taken during the last round of talks. They noted with satisfaction the progress made so far and identified ways of promoting cooperation in a number of areas.

The two sides condemned terrorism in all forms and manifestations and affirmed their resolve to cooperate with each other to combat the menace. It was decided that terrorism must be prevented and as directed by the leadership of the two countries during their meeting in New York on Sept 24 this year, action must be taken against elements involved in terrorist activities.

The two sides agreed to release each other’s prisoners and fishermen as a gesture of goodwill and on humanitarian consideration. The exchange of civilian prisoners and fishermen who have completed their sentence and whose national status has been confirmed will take place in January. The verification of their nationality would be completed within six weeks of provision of consular access.