The death sentence verdict awarded by a Pakistani military court martial on 10th April 2017, to Kulbhushan Jadhav, a retired Indian naval officer, merits the prefix of a ‘kangaroo’ court.
Jadhav was arrested by Pakistan in March 2016 in Balochistan and he was accused of being an undercover RAW agent engaged in stoking the Baloch separatist movement and seeking to scuttle the high-profile China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. At the time Delhi had rejected these allegations and had sought consular access to Jadhav which was denied.
Pakistan military convened a field general court martial (FGCM) and concluded that a death sentence was warranted. It is to be noted that Pakistani ISPR made an official press statement, instead of Pakistan Foreign office, and noted that Cdr. Jadhav had “confessed before a magistrate and the court 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.”
More news to follow…
Source: Hindustan Times and other media sources