Talks extended by day, India raises Sarabjit

India on Tuesday asked Pakistan to release death row prisoner Sarabjit Singh as the Home Secretaries of the two countries held talks here on terrorism and security and signed a pact to curb drug smuggling.

The demand for release of Sarabjit, an Indian national languishing on death row since he was convicted of alleged involvement in four bomb blasts in Punjab province in 1990, was raised by Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta, sources said. His execution was put off indefinitely following Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani8217;s intervention in May.

During the talks which were extended till tomorrow, senior Indian and Pakistani officials signed an MoU on 8220;drug demand reduction and prevention of illicit trafficking in narcotic drugs/psychotropic substances and related matters8221;, said Indian High Commission spokesman Sanjay Mathur. The two countries also agreed that the main source of narcotics in the region continued to be Afghanistan.

The two sides also took up counter-terrorism, the release of prisoners being held in each other8217;s jails, officials said.