Kulbhushan Jadhav: If hanged, will be treated as premeditated murder, India tells Pak

A TV grab of Kulbhushan Jadhav

In a strongly-worded response to Pakistan sentencing former Indian naval officer Kulbhushan Jadhav to death, Foreign Secretary Jaishankar on Monday summoned the Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit and was given a demarche, terming the proceeding that led to his sentencing as “farcical” in the absence of any credible evidence against him. “If this sentence against an Indian citizen, awarded without observing basic norms of law and justice, is carried out, the Government and people of India will regard it as a case of premeditated murder,” the demarche stated.

Basit was also told that the Indian High Commission in Pakistan was not even informed that Jadhav was being brought to trial. India was denied consular access to Jadhav 13 times by the Pakistan authorities, the demarche said. Jadhav’s presence in Pakistan was never explained and, it added, that he was kidnapped from Iran. “The claim in the ISPR release that Shri Jadhav was provided with a defending officer during the so-called trial is clearly absurd in the circumstances,” it said.

Earlier today, a Pakistan military court sentenced Jadhav to death for allegedly spying for India’s Research & Analysis Wing. Jadhav was tried through Field General Court Martial (FGCM) under under section 59 of Pakistan Army Act (PAA) 1952 and Section 3 of official Secret Act of 1923. Last year, the Pakistan army released a video of Jadhav purportedly confessing that he was a R&AW agent deployed to destabilize the country’s efforts in restoring peace in Balochistan and Karachi. Indian Intelligence officials, however, pointed out several errors in the video testimony and said that Jadhav might have been coerced.