Supporters of convicted Indian spy Sarabjit Singh, sentenced to death in Pakistan, are holding out hope he will be pardoned after talks between senior officials last week.
Pakistani Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri said after meeting President Pervez Musharraf: 'If a mercy petition comes for the convict, then the president will decide the case on merit.'
Mr Kasuri was apparently referring to media reports that the Indian leadership might soon appeal to Pakistan to spare Singh's life.
On Saturday, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh confirmed in New Delhi that an 'appropriate message' had been sent to Islamabad, while Pakistan allowed Indian diplomats to meet the convicted spy.
Arrested in 1990 by Pakistan's border security forces on charges of spying, Sarabjit Singh has spent 15 years in jail and is awaiting execution in a Lahore prison after his death sentence was upheld by the Supreme Court on August 18.
Singh was tried in an anti-terrorism court, which convicted and sentenced him to death on five counts on the basis of his confessions about his alleged links with the Indian intelligence agency RAW (Research and Analysis Wing) and his involvement in multiple bomb blasts in Pakistan.