The spy, who claims that in 1977, he was given a blank cheque to kill deposed prime minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, said it was impossible for death row convicts to carry out such assaults without the connivance of authorities. Bhutto was lodged in the Lahore jail at the time, after being deposed in a military coup.

Having served time in a number of Pakistani jails between 1976 and 1996 on charges of being an Indian spy, Elahi said convicts on death row are kept under very strict surveillance guided by stringent stipulations in that country.