Former union ministers slam Pak over death sentence to Kulbhushan Jadhav

Former union minister Ashwani Kumar on Monday condemned Pakistan for awarding death sentence to alleged Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav and urged the Centre to raise the issue with Islamabad.

"The Indian Government should raise this matter with the Pakistani government. We cannot force Pakistan but can at least try," Ashwani Kumar told ANI.

Another former union home minister Shivraj Patil said that though it was very easy to kill someone these days, but to pronounce such punishment either to an Army man or a citizen was not acceptable.

Earlier today, the Pakistan Military sentenced Jadhav to death, its media wing Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a statement.

"The spy was tried through Field General Court Martial (FGCM) under the Pakistan Army Act (PAA) and awarded the death sentence. Today Chief of Army Staff Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa confirmed his death sentence awarded by FGCM," the ISPR said.

Strongly reacting to this, India summoned Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit and issued a demarche.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said the Indian High Commission in Islamabad was not even informed about Jadhav's trial in the court.

The ministry added that the subsequent presence of Jadhav, who was kidnapped last year from Iran, has never been explained credibly by the Pakistani authorities.

"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," an official statement read.

Earlier in March 2016, the Ministry of External Affairs said that the former Indian naval officer was arrested by Pakistan for allegedly engaging in subversive activities was possibly kidnapped from Iran and denied any possibilities of him being involved in subversive activities in Pakistan.