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Pakistan sentences Kulbhushan Jadhav to death, India calls it 'premeditated murder'

MEA has issued a demarche to Pakistan High Commissioner.

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After the Pakistani army court sentenced an Indian national Kulbhushan Jadhav to death on Monday "for his involvement in espionage and sabotage activities against Pakistan", the Indian MEA has issued a demarche to the Pakistan High Commissioner.

The Indian Foreign Secretary summoned the Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit and handed over the following demarche:

1. We have seen the ISPR press release today regarding Shri Kulbhushan Jadhav, an Indian citizen, who has been awarded a death sentence by a Pakistani military court martial.
 
2. Shri Jadhav was kidnapped last year from Iran and his subsequent presence in Pakistan has never been explained credibly. The Government of India, through its High Commission in Islamabad, has repeatedly sought consular access to him, as provided for by international law. Requests to that effect were formally made 13 times between 25 March 2016 and 31 March 2017. This was not permitted by the Pakistani authorities. 

3. 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. Senior Pakistani figures have themselves cast doubt about the adequacy of evidence. 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.
 
4. 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.

Earlier, the Pakistan military's media wing Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a statement, "The spy has been tried through Field General Court Martial (FGCM) under Pakistan Army Act and awarded death sentence." Pakistan Army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa "has confirmed his death sentence awarded by FGCM," it added.

Jadhav was "arrested" on March 3 last year by Pakistan security officials in Balochistan after he entered from Iran. He has been accused by Pakistan of planning "subversive activities" in the country. While India has acknowledged Jadhav as a retired Indian Navy officer, it has denied the allegation that he was in any way connected to the government.

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