New Delhi issued a demarche to Islamabad on Monday over a Pakistani military court awarding death sentence to alleged Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav without observing basic norms of law and justice, warning that India and its people would regard it as a case of ‘premeditated murder’ if the sentence was carried out.

Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit was summoned to the foreign office by Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar hours after the Pakistani court confirmed death sentence on Jadhav and unambiguously told that the proceedings that have led to the death sentence against the Indian national were ‘farcical’ in the absence of any credible evidence against him.

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It was also pointed out to Basit that the Indian High Commission in Islamabad was not even informed that Jadhav was being brought to trial. In fact, senior Pakistani figures had themselves cast doubt about the adequacy of evidence against him. The claim by the Inter-Service Public Relations (ISPR), the media wing of the Pakistan armed forces, in its press release that Jadhav was provided with a defending officer during the so-called trial was clearly absurd in the circumstances, Jaishankar said.

The Pakistan envoy was also told that Jadhav was kidnapped last year from Iran and his subsequent presence in Pakistan had never been explained credibly. The Indian government, through its High Commission had repeatedly sought consular access to him, as provided for by international law. Request to this effect were formally made 13 times between 25 March 2016 and 31 March 2017. However, the Pakistani authorities did not permit this.

The awarding of death sentence to Jadhav is being seen by New Delhi as an extreme provocation by Pakistan in an already tense atmosphere between the two countries. Pakistan Foreign Policy Advisor Sartaj Aziz had told the Senate in December last year that the material provided by the Pakistan forces against Jadhav was insufficient and the dossiers against him did not have conclusive evidence.          

Earlier today, the Pakistani military court said Jadhav alias Hussein Mubarak Patel was arrested on 3 March 2016 through a counter-intelligence operation from Mashkel in Balochistan for his involvement in espionage and sabotage activities against Pakistan. This spy had been tried through the Field General Court Martial (FGCM) under the Pakistan Army Act and awarded death sentence. Today, Chief of the Pakistan Army, Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa had confirmed the death sentence awarded by the FGCM.

‘’RAW agent Kulbhushan Jadhav was tried by FGCM which found him guilty of all the charges. He confessed before a magistrate that he was tasked by 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’’ it added. The accused was provided with defending officer as per legal provisions.