NEW DELHI, March 17: Indian MPs, led by Congress party leader Rahul Gandhi, have opposed the planned execution of an alleged Indian spy in Lahore whose hanging is otherwise set for April 1, news reports said on Monday.

Press Trust of India said Ms Dalbir Kaur, sister of Sarabjit Singh alias Manjit Singh, met Congress MP Rahul Gandhi on Monday with an appeal that he should take up the matter with the government.

“I met Rahul Gandhi, who assured me that he will take up the issue with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi,” Ms Kaur said after meeting the Congress party icon.

Mr Singh who has been condemned to death for his alleged involvement in four bomb blasts in Pakistan in 1990, will be hanged on April 1 in a prison in Lahore, according to Pakistani officials.

“Rahul treated me as his elder sister and assured every possible help to save Sarabjit’s life,” she said. “If the prime minister takes Sarabjit’s issue seriously and puts pressure on the Pakistan government, then nobody can hang him,” an emotional Dalbir said.

She has also spoken to Pakistan’s caretaker Human Rights Minister Ansar Burney, who has assured his full cooperation and said he would take the matter to President Pervez Musharraf, PTI said.

The mercy petition of Sarabjit, who Pakistan claims is Manjit Singh, was rejected by President Musharraf on March 3.

The mercy petition was sent to President Musharraf along with that of Indian prisoner Kashmir Singh, who was freed after spending 35 years on death row in Pakistani jails. Ms Dalbir Kaur also condemned Kashmir Singh’s reported statement that he was a spy in Pakistan, saying his move may have sealed the fate of other prisoners lodged in Pakistani jails.

The opposition Bhartiya Janata Party on Monday asked the government to talk to Islamabad ‘sternly’ to save the ‘innocent’ person from the gallows.

The opposition party had a dig at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, saying he had said that he was having ‘sleepless nights’ when Indian doctor Mohammed Haneef was arrested in Australia last year but was silent on the Sarabjit issue.

“When Haneef was arrested in Australia, the prime minister had said he was having ‘sleepless nights’. But when an innocent Indian is facing death in Pakistan, the prime minister is having sound sleep,” BJP vice-president Mukhtar Abass Naqvi told reporters.

The case echoed in the Rajya Sabha with both ruling Congress and opposition BJP demanding a house resolution against the move.

As soon as the house met for the day, Rashid Alvi (Cong) raised the issue of death warrant.

Chairman Hamid Ansari said he would request the government to respond to the concerns of the members.

“We all understand the issue (and) we all are concerned about it... The government may be requested to state its position (on the issue),” he said.

AFP adds: India’s junior foreign minister Anand Sharma told reporters that the government had “limited options” and could only request Islamabad to consider the humanitarian aspects.

India had already “conveyed the strong sentiments of our people and requested some clemency and reprieve for him,” he said. “Considering humanitarian aspects, we hope some leniency would be shown.”