Monday, August 29 2005 15:55 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: India today (August 29, 2005) thanked Pakistan for its decision to provide Consular access to Sarabjit Singh, who has been sentenced to death on charges of involvement in bomb blasts there and expressed hope that the dates for it would soon be announced.

"On behalf of Government of India, I wish to place my thanks on record for Government of Pakistan. First step for any action, including clemency, is Consular access so that one can get into the facts of the case. I hope that the dates will also be now announced soon," Union Home Secretary V K Duggal said at the beginning of two-day Home-Secretary level talks.

Later on the case would be followed at diplomatic level, he said observing, "I don't think now the issue is more important at the Home Secretary level talks."

Singh was charged by Pakistan police with being a RAW spy and involved in bomb blasts at Multan and Lahore in the 1990s. He shot into news after Pakistan Supreme Court earlier this month confirmed the death sentence on him.

Singh's family claims that he is not Manjeet Singh as identified by the police and convicted subsequently, but a resident of Bhikhiwind village on the border in Punjab, who crossed over inadvertently in 1990 when there was no border fencing.