Military court awards death sentence to Kulbhushan

Charges of espionage, terrorism proved against Indian spy; COAS confirms death sentence; Sartaj Aziz says can’t say anything on implementation of sentence; India summons Pak high commissioner to lodge protest; cancels decision to release 12 Pakistani prisoners

RAWALPINDI: Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa has confirmed the death sentence of RAW agent and serving Indian naval officer Commander Sudhir Kulbhushan Yadav, awarded to him for his involvement in espionage and terrorism activities against Pakistan.

The Indian spy was tried through the Field General Court Martial (FGCM) and he was awarded death sentence under the Pakistan Army Act (PAA), the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said.

“Today COAS General Qamar Javed Bajwa confirmed death sentence of Indian spy awarded by FGCM,” the ISPR said.The Indian RAW agent, naval officer 41558Z Commander Kulbhushan Sudhir Yadav alias Hussein Mubarak Patel, was arrested on March 03, 2016 through a counter-intelligence operation from the Mashkel area of Balochistan for his involvement in espionage and sabotage activities in Pakistan.

The ISPR said Kulbhushan Yadav was tried by the FGCM under Section 59 of PAA and Section 3 of Official Secret Act of 1923 and he was found guilty of all charges. He confessed before the 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 and by impeding the efforts of law enforcement agencies for restoring peace in Balochistan and Karachi.

The ISPR said the accused was provided a defending officer as per legal provisions.Defence Minister KhawajaAsif said the death sentence of Kulbhushan Yadav should serve as a warning to those engaged in terrorism in Pakistan. The minister made it clear that Yadav’s sentencing was according to the law, adding that all constitutional force would be used against those acting against the sovereignty of Pakistan. He said the soldiers and civilians of Pakistan have given sacrifices for this country and their sacrifices demand us to give a befitting reply to terrorists and those who aid and facilitate them.

Khawaja Asif said Yadav’s confession was a public document and if India raises the issue of his death sentence, Pakistan will give them a reply. He said the RAW agent was enjoying patronage of the Indian government to carry out sabotage acts against Pakistan. 

The minister said the entire world had acknowledged Pakistan’s struggle against terrorism and the country was dealing with this menace from both the eastern and western fronts.

Kulbhushan Yadav in his video recorded confessional statement, which was also televised, had confessed he was serving Indian naval officer and was carrying out espionage and sabotage in Pakistan, particularly in Balochistan and Karachi.

“I have been directing various activities in Balochistan and Karachi at the behest of RAW and deteriorating law and order situation in Karachi. I was basically the man for Anil Kumar Gupta who is the joint secretary of RAW and his contacts in Pakistan, especially in Balochistan Student Organisation,” Yadav in his confessional statement said.

He said the purpose was to hold meetings with Baloch insurgents and carry out activities with their collaboration. He said activities have been of criminal nature, leading to killing of or maiming of Pakistani citizens.

“I realise during this process that RAW is involved in some activities related to the Baloch liberation movement within Pakistan and the region around it,” he said.

New Delhi reacted immediately as news of a death sentence handed out to Kulbhushan Yadav reached the Modi government, with Indian Foreign Secretary Jaishankar summoning Pakistan High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit to protest the death sentence while labelling Pakistan Army’s announcement as ‘premeditated murder’ .

India at the time of the arrest of Kulbhushan Yadav admitted that he was an Indian naval officer. Also New Delhi announced that it was cancelling its earlier decision to release 12 Pakistani prisoners from Indian jails, who were supposed to return home on Tuesday after completing their jail sentence.

“It is not the right time for the release of Pakistani prisoners. We are planning harsher steps to protest the death sentence to Yadav,” an unnamed official told the Indian media. It was not in the public domain that Kulbhushan Yadav was being tried in a military court in secret, though the Foreign Office declined several requests from its Indian counterpart to allow counsellor access to the condemned spy.

Last year, Modi did not hide Indian’s interest to interfere inside Balochistan and on its independence day he commented on the situation inside Balochistan and asked the Indian media and his diplomats to highlight Pakistan’s policy inside Balochistan.

The US government meanwhile reacted by saying that it respects the unity and territorial integrity of Pakistan and they do not support independence of Balochistan. “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,” said the demarche given to Abdul Basit. The demarche further stated that Kulbhushan’s presence in Pakistan was never explained and it further claimed that Yadav was kidnapped from Iran.

“The claim in the ISPR release that Shri Yadav was provided with a defending officer during the so-called trial is clearly absurd in the circumstances. The proceedings that have led to the sentence against Yadav are farcical in the absence of any credible evidence against him. It is significant that our high commission was not even informed that Yadav was being brought to trial,” claimed Jaishankar.

So far Jaishankar’s boss Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj has not reacted officially to Kulbhushan’s death sentence.

Games of spy versus spy are played out in every capital of the world and the irony is that once the cover of a spook is blown they are on their own. This was apparent in 2012 when an Indian spy Surjeet Singh after spending 30 years in a Pakistani jail announced as soon as he was on Indian soil that he had been sent to Pakistan by RAW for spying purposes and had been caught.

Emotions ran high at the Attari border as Surjeet Singh stepped onto Indian soil after spending over 30 years in a Pakistani jail and promptly admitted that he had indeed been sent to spy for India. Minutes after returning, Surjeet when asked by the Indian media about the reasons for which he went to Pakistan, responded, “Why do you people want me to speak about such things?”

According to the Indian media when he was further questioned he revealed that he had gone for “jasoosi (spying)”. He named the RAW as his handler, and then said the army had sent him.

Meanwhile, Adviser to PM on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz said he can’t say anything about the implementation of Yadav’s death sentence. During the Senate session, the PML-Q Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed drew attention of Sartaj Aziz towards Indian spy’s issue and wished he should brief the House about the decision of hanging Yadav.

The adviser came up with brief remarks and said that it was done according to the law of the land.  “The issue falls in the domain of the defence minister, who can better brief the House on the issue if the House wants a briefing on it,” he said.  Meanwhile, the PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that in principle his party is against awarding death penalty.  

Asim Yasin adds: Political parties welcomed the death sentence to Kulbhushan Yadav.

Former interior minister Rehman Malik said frequently he had urged the government to take the issue of Kulbhushan Yadav with United Nations and international community that India’s real face of interference and involvement in Pakistan could be exposed. He said Kulbhushan Yadav has confessed his involvement in espionage, terrorism and sectarianism in Pakistan and sabotage activities against the country.

Rehman Malik said that death sentence to Kulbhushan Yadav is in the larger interest of the nation and country as it is related to national security. “Those working for RAW against Pakistan and sabotaging Pakistan through terrorism must be dealt with iron hands,” he said.

Ameer Jamaat-e-Islami Sirajul Haq said stern steps were essential to foil the enemy designs against Pakistan. “The enemy agents causing subversion and terrorism in the country must be dealt with sternly,” he added.

The JI chief said RAW had laid a network in Pakistan to destabilise it. He said Kulbhushan Yadav was not an individual, and he was representing a terrorist organisation as was active against Pakistan. He said that India was involved in terrorism in Pakistan.

The JI secretary general Liaquat Baloch said that the nation hoped that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and the Foreign Ministry would apprise the world community of India’s terrorist network in Pakistan. He said that New Delhi would raise hue and cry over this decision but Islamabad should not submit to Indian pressure.