Pakistan Sentences Indian Spy to Death for Operating Terrorism Ring
By SALMAN MASOOD and HARI KUMARAPRIL 10, 2017
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — An Indian naval officer arrested last year and charged with espionage and sabotage was sentenced to death Monday, the Pakistani military said, a decision
that is likely to further strain relations between the two nations.
India’s foreign ministry said that the proceedings
that led to the sentence against Mr. Jadhav "were farcical in the absence of any credible evidence against him" and added that the Indian High Commission, its diplomatic mission in Pakistan, was not even informed that Mr. Jadhav was being brought to trial.
Indian officials accused Pakistan of kidnapping Mr. Jadhav, whom they described as a former Navy officer, and said
that repeated efforts for access to Mr. Jadhav were denied.
The Pakistani military also asserted that Mr. Jadhav confessed before a magistrate
that he was assigned by India’s spy agency, the Research and Analysis Wing, or RAW, "to plan and organize espionage and sabotage activities" in Baluchistan Province and Karachi, the southern port city that is the country’s commercial hub.
Soon after Mr. Jadhav’s arrest in March 2016, the Pakistani military had released a video in which Mr. Jadhav confessed to espionage.
A. S. Dulat, a former Indian spy chief, said in an interview
that the news of the death sentence came as a surprise and was a further setback in relations between the two neighbors.