Members of the Pakistan media watch a projection of a video showing arrested man Kulbhushan Yadav -- suspected of being an Indian spy -- during a press conference in Islamabad in this March 29, 2016 photo. | Photo Credit:
AFP
http://www.thehindu.com/news/nation...er-to-death/article17906754.ece?homepage=true
Kulbushan Jadhav sentenced for espionage and sabotage activities, says military spokesperson.
A Pakistani military court has handed down the death sentence to former Indian naval officer Kulbushan Jadhav for alleged espionage work for Indian intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW).
The Indian embassy officials were refused access to Jadhav throughout the process.
A statement from the Pakistani military on Monday said Army Chief Qamar Javed Bajwa had confirmed the death sentence on Jadhav, who was allegedly arrested from Balochistan on March 3 last year.
Military spokesman Major General Asif Ghafoor said in a tweet:"Indian RAW Agent Kalbhushan awarded death sentence through Court Marshal by Pakistan Army for espionage and sabotage activities against Pakistan".
A press release followed the tweet, stating that R&AW agent/naval officer Jadhav alias Hussain Mubarak Patel was arrested on March 3, 2016 through a counter intelligence operation from Mashkel, Balochistan for his involvement in espionage and sabotage activities against Pakistan. "The spy has been tried through Field General Court Marshall under Pakistan Army Act and awarded death sentence. Today Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa has confirmed his death sentence through FGCM", it said.
Pakistan military claimed that Jadhav confessed before a magistrate that he was tasked by the RAW 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 has acknowledged that Jadhav is a retired Navy officer, but denied the allegation that he was in any way connected to the government.
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http://www.thehindu.com/news/nation...jits-sister/article17908094.ece?homepage=true
Dalbir Kaur, sister of Sarabjit addressing the media,in New Delhi. File photo | Photo Credit:
Sandeep Saxena
Sarabjit died after an attack on him by inmates of a Lahore prison in April 2013.
Dalbir Kaur, sister of Sarabjit Singh who died in a Pakistan jail in 2013, has said that India should approach the International Court of Justice and ensure that the
death sentence awarded to Kulbushan Jadhav by the Pakistani establishment is not carried out.
“Our government should take appropriate steps. They should appeal in the international court of justice and seek a stay,” Ms. Kaur told over the phone.
India should take every necessary step to ensure that Jadhav’s death sentence is not carried out, she said.
“Even if I assume for a minute that Jadhav was an agent, still does he deserve the death sentence. There are many Pakistani nationals lodged in our jails who are charged with serious crimes, does this mean they too should be given the same treatment. The 2000 Red Fort attack case convict was a Pakistani national, but was he hanged?” she asked.
About Jadhav, she said, “just because he is an Indian, he has been given the death sentence. This shows the hatred and enmity which Pakistan harbours towards India”. Prime Minister Narendra Modi should speak about this to his Pakistani counterpart, she said.
Having lost her brother four years back in Pakistan, Ms. Kaur said she could fully understand what Jadhav’s family must be going through at this hour.
“I am with the family. They should immediately meet the Prime Minister. My full support is with Jadhav’s family and I can accompany them if they go and meet the PM,” she said.
Sarabjit died following an attack on him by inmates of a Lahore prison in April 2013. He was convicted for terrorism and spying by a Pakistani court and sentenced to death in 1991. However, the government had stayed his execution for an indefinite period in 2008.
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Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar issued a strongly-worded demarche to the Pakistan High Commissioner to India | Photo Credit:
AP
http://www.thehindu.com/news/nation...i-prisoners/article17908903.ece?homepage=true
They were to be repatriated this week.
Angered by Pakistan’s decision to award the death sentence to Kulbushan Jadhav, a top government official said on Monday that India would stall the release of 12 Pakistani prisoners, who were to be repatriated this week.
India took the decision after Pakistan army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa approved the death sentence for Jadhav, who was arrested in March 2016, allegedly in Balochistan for alleged "espionage and sabotage" activities.
The repatriation of Pakistani prisoners who had completed their sentences has been in practice since 2008 when India and Pakistan signed a joint agreement. Since May 2014, when the NDA government came to power, around 80 Pakistani prisoners were deported after serving their sentences.
“It is not the right time for the release of Pakistani prisoners. We are planning harsher steps to protest the death sentence to Jadhav,” said the official.
The death sentence to Jadhav, 46, was confirmed by the Pakistan army chief after the Field General Court Martial (FGCM) found him guilty of "all the charges", as stated by the military's media wing, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), in Rawalpindi.
Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar summoned the Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit and issued a strongly worded demarche.