Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis today condemned Pakistan for the death sentence given to retired Indian Navy officer Kulbhushan Jadhav by a military court on alleged espionage charges.
He said the move is aimed at diverting the Pakistani people's attention from failures of their government.
"We strongly condemn the act of Pakistan military. It's an effort to divert the attention of Pakistani people from the domestic failures and artificially counter the established fact that the neighbouring country sponsors terror activities in India," Fadnavis told PTI.
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Meanwhile, eminent lawyer Ujjwal Nikam said Jadhav has been awarded the death sentence without a fair trial.
The 46-year-old former Navy officer was not even provided a lawyer and denied consular access, said Nikam, who was the special public prosecutor in the 26/11 Mumbai attack case.
He was talking to reporters at Aurangabad in central Maharashtra.
On the other hand, Ajmal Kasab, the lone Pakistani terrorist arrested for the Mumbai terror attacks, was given a fair trial and provided a lawyer to defend himself, he said.
Nikam said by this act, Pakistan is taking revenge for the Indian government's moral support to the ongoing freedom movement in Balochistan.
Jadhav, who hails from Mumbai, was "arrested" on March 3 last year by Pakistan security officials allegedly in Balochistan which, they said, he entered from Iran.
He was sentenced to death by a military court in a secret trial for alleged "espionage and sabotage activities" and Pakistan's army chief today approved his execution.
The Indian government has maintained that the proceedings that led to the sentencing of Jadhav are "farcical in absence of any credible evidence" against him.
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