Kulbhushan has three options to get decision reversed

Kasab’s plea for clemency was rejected by India’s president; Indian spy Kashmir Singh was released with presidential pardon granted by Musharraf; Ghulam Ishaq commuted death sentence of Surjeet Singh into a life term, helped him return home

LAHORE: Indian spy Kulbhushan Yadav, who was sentenced to death on Monday by a military court just six days ahead of his 47th birthday, has three more options up his sleeve to get his conviction reversed.

According to the Pakistan's laws, Kulbhushan can file an appeal with the military court and, if his sentence is upheld there, can move the Supreme Court for reversal of the verdict against him.

And if the Apex court also upholds the judgment, then this RAW operative and a commander-ranked officer in the Indian Navy has the right to seek clemency from the Pakistani president.

Past Pakistani presidential clemency precedents for Indian agents: On March 4, 2008, an Indian spy, Kashmir Singh (born 1941), was released with presidential pardon granted by Gen Musharraf after a human rights organisation had spotted him while visiting the Lahore jail earlier that year.

Having spent 35 years in Pakistani jails, Kashmir Singh was arrested in 1974 by intelligence agencies on the 22nd Milestone on the Peshawar-Islamabad road.

Same year, he was sentenced to death by a military court. This verdict was upheld by a civil court in between 1976 and 1977 and a mercy petition followed this, but to no avail.

(References: The BBC, the Times of India and the Indian Express etc)

Later in India, Kashmir Singh (known as 'Ibrahim' to his fellow inmates) had admitted that he was an Indian spy and did his best to serve the country, but deplored that successive governments of his country had not done anything for his family.

The March 7, 2008 edition of the "Times of India" had quoted Kashmir as saying: "After my arrest in 1974, the successive governments did nothing for my family. I did the duty assigned to me as a spy...but the government after my arrest did not bother to spend a single penny for my family."

The Indian newspaper had added: "Asked whether he was sent to Pakistan by the Military Intelligence and the route he took to go there, Singh said, "even Pakistan authorities failed to get this information from me. I was paid Rs 400 as salary...as per duty; I went to serve the country."

Asked what he would like to say for some other people who are working in similar kind of professions, Singh said, "I was a spy and did my duty...about others I will not comment...I am not president of the country to give reply to such queries."

In another case of presidential pardon in Pakistan, as the BBC News had reported in July 2012, another Indian spy, Surjeet Singh, was released at the age of 73 after spending more than 30 years in a Pakistani prison.

Surjeet Singh, according to the British media outlet, was arrested in Lahore and taken to an army cell for interrogation.

In 1985, an army court had sentenced him to death and in 1989; the then president, Ghulam Ishaq Khan, had accepted his mercy plea to commute his sentence into life in jail.

Ajmal Kasab was denied Presidential pardon in India:

On November 21, 2012, an alleged Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Kasab was hanged for his involvement in the November 26, 2008 Mumbai attacks after his plea for clemency was rejected by Indian President Pranab Mukherjee on November 5, 2012.

In April 2009, advocate Abbas Kazmi was appointed as Kasab's defence lawyer as the previously appointed lawyer, Anjali Waghmare, was removed from the case due to conflict of interest. Anjali was also representing a victim in the same case.

It is pertinent to note that a resolution was passed unanimously by the Mumbai Metropolitan Magistrate Court's Bar Association, which has more than 1,000 members, saying that none of its members would defend any of the accused of the terror attacks.

On May 3, 2010, according to NDTV, Kasab was found guilty of 86 offences, including murder, waging war against India, possessing explosives, and other charges.

On May 6, 2010, the same trial court sentenced him to death on four counts and to a life sentence on five counts. Kasab's death sentence was upheld by the Mumbai High Court on February 21, 2011 and on August 29, 2012, the verdict was upheld by the Supreme Court of India.

Senior advocate Raju Ramachandran, who defended Kasab in the Indian apex court as amicus curiae, said he "bows down" to the Supreme Court ruling that upheld the 26/11 gunman's death sentence.

Kasab had asked for Pakistani lawyers to represent him at his trial, but a lack of response from Pakistani officials and the resulting delay resulted in Kazmi's appointment.

(References: A Press Trust of India report of December 6, 2008, Outlook India, Indian Express and Rediff.com)

Research shows that on February 12, 2010, as the "CNN" had reported, gunmen had shot dead a Delhi lawyer Shahid Azmi, representing a Mumbai attack suspect Fahim Ansari, who was accused of helping to plan the Indian port city's siege that had resulted in killing of 164 people in November 2008.  

Indian spies caught snooping in Pakistan:  

Last year, Kulbhushan Yadav was not the first RAW operative caught snooping in Pakistan, research shows.

Prior to Kulbhushan, a good number of Indian spies have been spotted and handcuffed in Pakistan during the course of country's enmity with its neighbouring nation.

The most notable among dozens of Indian spies caught in Pakistan was Ravindra Kaushik, who was sent across the border in 1975 on a mission at the age of 23 after extensive training in Delhi for two years.

He was circumcised, taught Urdu and Punjabi languages, given religious education and acquainted with the topography and other details about Pakistan.

Operating under the cover name of "Nabi Ahmed Shakir," Kaushik had then succeeded in finding a civilian clerk's job in the Military Accounts Department of the Pakistan Army.

He had even married a local woman, who was the daughter of a tailor in one of the Army units, and had eventually fathered a son. He kept on passing valuable information to RAW from 1979 to 1983.

In September 1983, Indian intelligence agencies had sent a low level operative, Inayat Masih, to get in touch with Kaushik. But, the agent was caught by Pakistan’s intelligence agencies and had revealed Kaushik's true identity during probe.

Kaushik was hence captured and questioned for two years at Sialkot. He was given a death verdict in 1985, but his sentence was later commuted to a life term by the Pakistan Supreme Court.

He was kept in various jails for 16 years, and on July 26, 1999, had succumbed to pulmonary tuberculosis and heart disease at the Multan Jail.

Another famous RAW agent Sarabjit Singh (also known as Manjit Singh) was convicted of terrorism and spying by the Pakistan Supreme Court for a series of bomb attacks that had killed 14 people in Lahore and Faisalabad during 1990.

Instead, Sarabjit claimed he was a farmer who had erroneously strayed into Pakistan from his village located on the border, three months after the bombings.

He was given death under the Pakistan's Army Act and the Lahore High Court had upheld the decision in 1991. However, his sentence was repeatedly postponed by the then Pakistani regime.

The Supreme Court had also dismissed a petition to review his death sentence in March 2006 as Singh's lawyers had failed to appear for the hearing.

While he was languishing in a Lahore prison in April 26, 2013, Singh was attacked by fellow inmates with bricks, sharp metal sheets, iron rods and blades. He had died six days later at a Lahore Hospital.

The government in Indian Punjab reportedly had declared three-day mourning over his death and announced to pay his legal heirs a compensation of Rs10 million.

It is noteworthy that following the attack in prison and subsequent death of Sarabjit Singh, a Pakistani prisoner (Sanaullah) in Jammu Jail was fatally attacked on May 3, 2013, allegedly by another convict.

Sanaullah was hospitalised in Chandigarh, but had perished later due to multiple organ failure.

(References: BBC News, Mumbaivoice.com, India TV, the Hindustan Times, The Times of India, India Today, CNN-IBN India, Zee News, The Hindu and NDTV etc)

  Indian spies who were returned by Pakistan:  

According to a September 2013 report of an Indian media house "IBN Live," an Indian spy Ramraj was returned after almost eight years of captivity in February 2004.

Another Indian spy, Gurbaksh Ram, was sentenced to 14 years in prison. He was released from jail in 2006 and sent back home. He was sent to Pakistan in 1988.

Ram Prakash, who was sent to Pakistan in 1994, was arrested on June 13, 1997 while returning back to India.

He was interrogated in a Sialkot jail for a year and kept under detention before a court imprisoned him for 10 years in 1998. Ram had boasted that he had crossed the border roughly 75 times in three years before he was finally caught. He was sent back to India on July 7, 2008.

Vinod Sawhney was sent to Pakistan in 1977 and was arrested in the same year. After interrogation and trial, he was sentenced to jail for eleven years. In March 1988, he was sent back to India.

Suram Singh said he tried to enter Pakistan in 1974, but was apprehended by the Pakistani Rangers on the border itself. He was interrogated for about 4 months in Sialkot's Gora jail, and spent around 13 years and 7 months in different jails of Pakistan. Singh was deported to India in 1988.

Balwir Singh was sent to Pakistan in 1971 and was arrested in 1974. After completing his sentence of 12 years in prison, Balwir was sent back to India in 1986.

Yet another Indian secret agent Devut was sent to Pakistan sometime during mid 1990s and came back to India on December 23 2006 after serving a jail sentence.

  Spy Daniel was caught in Pakistan during 1993 while crossing the border. After serving his period of sentence, he was sent back to India in 1997.