President Musharraf signed the petition for the release of Kashmir Singh on Thursday.

The Interior Ministry has already received the order and Pakistan's Federal Caretaker Minister for Human Rights Ansar Burney is likely to sign the release order by Friday evening.

Indian High Commission sources in Islamabad said Kashmir Singh is likely to be released on Friday itself.

Kashmir Singh has been traced to a Lahore jail. Burney said the prisoner had been languishing in a death cell for the past 35 years in conditions as 'hell on Earth'.

After locating Singh, Burney had launched a campaign through the ministry and through his own HR organisation, the Ansar Burney Trust, to search for Singh’s family.

The Pakistan's Minister of State for Human Rights confirmed that Kashmir Singh will be repatriated to India soon. The man from Hoshiarpur in Punjab was arrested in Rawalpindi in 1973 and was sentenced to death by a military court in 1977.

Pakistani Fedral Minister Ansar Burni said he will try to locate more Indian prisoners in Pakistani jails and work towards their release, if feasible. "I am visiting all the prisons across Paksitan and trying to locate Indian prisoners, if there are any," he said.

The news came as a godsent for Kashmir Singh's family. "I am happy to know about the possible release of Kashmir Singh," his wife told CNN-IBN at their village in Nangal Chora, near Hoshiarpur.

"We are delighted. We have heard so much about him. He has grandchildren now. Three generations of his family are looking forward to his return. His grandchildren can't wait to see him," Sukhvinder Kaur, his daughter-in-law, said.

Kashmir Singh's son Shish Pal was also overjoyed.

"Thirty five years is a very long time. Our family had a very difficult time in my father's absence. No one bothered to keep us informed. It was only two-and-a-half years after his disappearance that we got a letter from Islamabad informing us that Kashmir Singh was at Kot Lakhpat prison in Lahore, sentenced to death," he said.

Kashmir Singh denied any wrongdoing and said it was "hope" which kept him alive during incarceration.

"Yes, I was accused of espionage and smuggling. But I did not do anything of that sort and they found nothing on me when they arrested me," the 60-year-old, pardoned last week by President Pervez Musharraf, told reporters before crossing the border to return to his homeland.

An emotional Singh, who spent the night at a five-star hotel after stepping out of Kot Lakhpath jail on Monday, said: "Hope keeps us alive. If there is no hope, then it would be difficult to live." Singh had said he was looking forward to be reunited with his family.

"I am seeing the lights, the hustle and bustle. I feel like I'm in some other world. I am laughing. I don't remember the last time I laughed like this," he said.

Singh could be released after his case was taken up by caretaker Human Rights Minister Ansar Burney.

"I hope he spends the rest of his life happily," Burney said.

Singh was convicted of spying and sentenced to death by a military court in Lahore, but Burney said the government stayed his execution in the late 1970s.

Singh's release from jail was beamed live on all Pakistani news channels. See video below: