'Talk to Pak sternly on Sarabjit issue'

With Pakistan reportedly deciding to hang Indian national Sarabjit Singh, the BJP on Monday asked the government to talk to Islamabad "sternly" to save the "innocent" person from the gallows.

The Opposition party took a dig at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, saying he had said that he was having "sleepless nights" when Indian doctor Mohd 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 a sound sleep," BJP vice president Mukhtar Abass Naqvi told reporters in New Delhi.

Naqvi, who raised the Sarabjit issue in Rajya Sabha earlier, said "the entire nation is filled with sadness, worry and anxiety" following reports that the Indian national would be hanged on April 1.

"Unfortunately the government is not taking any concrete step. The prime minister and the government should speak to Pakistan sternly and with clarity over the Sarabjit issue to save him from death," the BJP leader said.