Have taken up Sarabjit's release with Pakistan: Sushilkumar Shinde

Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde Monday said he had taken up with Pakistan the release of Sarabjit Singh, an Indian death row convict in a Pakistani prison.

Shinde said he had spoken to Pakistan's Interior Minister Rehman Malik and the issue was under consideration.

Shinde was asked if the hangings of Ajmal Kasab and Afzal Guru would impact the release of Sarabjit Singh.

"I have raised this problem before the home minister of Pakistan twice. The matter is under consideration," Shinde said.

Sarabjit was convicted by Pakistani authorities for his alleged involvement in the 1990 serial bomb blasts in Lahore and Faisalabad in which 14 people were killed.

Pakistani authorities claim he is Manjit Singh.

His family says Sarabjit had accidentally strayed into Pakisan from his village on the border in Punjab Aug 28, 1990.

His sister Dalbir Kaur had said in Kolkata last month that the UPA government had not been very sensitive about resolving the mistaken identity issue involving her brother.