India says Kulbhushan Jadhav’s trial by Pakistan farcical, hanging will be ‘premeditated murder’

The Pakistan military announced on Monday that Jadhav was found guilty at a court-martial which was closed to the public and sentenced to death.

India on Monday described as “farcical” the court proceedings leading to the death sentence on former Indian naval official Kulbhushan Jadhav and said if the verdict is implemented it will be considered “premeditated murder”.

Pakistani rangers (in black uniforms) and Indian Border Security Force (BSF) officers lower the national flags during a daily parade at the Wagah border. Pakistan has charged Kulbhushan Jadhav for his alleged involvement in espionage and sabotage against Pakistan as a Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) agent. He was arrested on March 3 last year in Balochistan. (Reuters File Photo)

“If this sentence (is) 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,” the external affairs ministry as saying in a demarche to Pakistan.

The demarche was handed over to Pakistan’s high commissioner Abdul Basit by the Indian foreign secretary S Jaishankar.

“The proceedings that have led to the sentence against Jadhav are farcical in the absence of any credible evidence against him. It is significant that our high commission was not even informed that Jadhav was being brought to trial,” it said, adding that “senior Pakistani figures have themselves cast doubt about the adequacy of evidence.”

“The claim... that Jadhav was provided with a defending officer during the so-called trial is clearly absurd in the circumstances.”