ISLAMABAD: The Government of Pakistan has approved the release of Indian prisoner Sarabjeet Singh, convicted of espionage charges, who been languishing in a local jail despite completion of his prison term.

Federal Law Minister Farooq H. Naek has signed the summary for Singh’s release and handed over his release orders to the Interior Ministry.

Singh was imprisoned in Kot Lakhpat jail.

Speaking to DawnNews, the law minister said Sarabjeet Singh’s death sentence had been converted to life imprisonment by the President and that the Indian prisoner had completed his sentence.

Singh’s release orders come after last month’s orders by the Indian Supreme Court allowing ailing Pakistani microbiologist Mohammad Khalil Chishti to travel to his home country on humanitarian grounds.

Dr Chishti had gone to India in 1992 to see his ailing mother where he was implicated in a murder case. After an 18-year-long trial, the octogenarian professor was awarded life imprisonment and sent to the Ajmer jail in January last year.