Former Indian naval officer Jadhav sentenced to death in Pakistan
Ajay Banerjee & Simran Sodhi
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, April 10
A retired Indian Naval officer, Kulbhushan Jadhav, has been sentenced to death by a Pakistani Army court martial for alleged spying in Pakistan.
Commander Kulbushan Sudhir Jadhav (retd) alias Hussein Mubarak Patel was arrested on March 3, 2016, from Mashkel in Balochistan, Pakistan had claimed at the time of arrest.
An infuriated India summoned Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit and in a strongly-worded demarche said if Pakistan carried out the sentence, India would view it as a case of ‘premeditated murder’.
This will be regarded as a case of premediated murder by the Indian government and its people if the sentence is carried out without observing the basic norms of justice, it said.
India had countered that Jadhav was not a spy but was operating a shipping business in Iran and was not in Pakistan.
Islamabad had alleged that he was involved in espionage and sabotage activities against Pakistan.
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A press release of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) of Pakistan said on Monday, “The Chief of Pakistan Army, General Qamar Javed Bajwa has confirmed his (Jadhav's) death sentence awarded by Field General Court Martial (FGCM) under Pakistan Army Act (PAA) and awarded death sentence.”
The ISPR claimed that Jadhav confessed before a magistrate and the court that he was tasked by India’s Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) to plan, coordinate and organise espionage/sabotage activities aiming to destabilise and wage war against Pakistan by impeding the efforts of Law Enforcement Agencies for restoring peace in Balochistan and Karachi.
India’s demarche to the Pak envoy described the proceedings against Jadav as ‘farcical’ and said, “The proceedings that have led to the sentence against Shri Jadhav are farcical in the absence of any credible evidence against him. It is significant that our High Commission was not even informed that Shri Jadhav was being brought to trial."
Sources in the government said Jadav was a businessman who carried cargo to and fro Iranian ports, bordering Pakistan, and was subsequently kidnapped by Pakistan in March last year. Later, Pakistan released his alleged video confession and held it up as proof of India's involvement in the Balochistan province.
