Krishna thanks Zardari for Sarabjit pardon

External Affairs Minister SM Krishna thanked Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari, who today pardoned Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh, paving the way for his return home after over 20 years of incarceration in a foreign country.

Krishna conveyed his thanks to the Pakistan president for commuting Sarabjit's death sentence to life imprisonment.

Pakistan's law ministry has already sent a proposal for the release of Sarabjit to the interior ministry, and the Indian might be able to walk out of prison soon.

Zardari's move to act positively on Sarabjit's mercy petition came closely after elderly Pakistani virologist Khaleel Chisti was released from an Ajmer jail, and reunited with his family in Pakistan.

The 49-year-old Sarabjit, convicted and sentenced to death for alleged involvement in a string of bombings in Punjab in 1990 that killed 14 people, has maintained his innocence and said that his was a case of "mistaken identity".

Zardari has directed authorities to release him if he has completed his prison term, official sources said today.

Sarabjit is currently being held at Kot Lakhpat Jail in Lahore.