Pakistan has sufficient evidence against RAW agent Jadhav: Abdul Basit

NEW DELHI: Pakistan High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit on Wednesday said that Pakistan has sufficient evidence against Indian RAW agent Kulbhushan Jadhav, who was recently sentenced to death for carrying out espionage and sabotage activities in Balochistan and Karachi.

Talking to Indian media Basit said that the evidence has been shared with Indian government as well.

"We have sufficient evidence against Jadhav and have shared it with the Indian government. He was involved in sabotage and terror," Basit said in an interview.

Basit said that Jadhav has been given a fair trial and assured that he will be given the right to appeal or seek mercy.

“Jadhav has been visiting Pakistan since 2003 using an original Indian passport but with a fake name”, Basit said.

Basit said, the charges against Jadhav were such that he could not be tried in a civil court, and that he had been tried under the laws of the land, the 1952 Pakistan Army Act and he was also provided defence counsel.

According to an ISPR press release, Kulbhusan Sundir Jadhav alias Hussein Mubarak Patel was arrested on March 3, 2016, through a Counter-Intelligence Operation from Mashkel area of Balochistan for his involvement in espionage and sabotage actives in Pakistan.

Jadhav an on-duty officer for the Indian Navy confessed to his crimes in a recorded video statement televised by the ISPR last year following his arrest.

"The spy has been tried through Field General Court Martial (FGCM) under Pakistan Army Act (PAA) and awarded death sentence. COAS, General Qamar Javed Bajwa has confirmed death sentence awarded by FGCM.

"RAW agent Commander Kulbushan Sundir Jadhav was tried under FGCM under section 59 of Pakistan Army Act (PAA) 1952 and Section 3 of official Secret Act of 1923.

"The FGCM found Jadhav guilty of all charges. He confessed before a 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 by impeding the efforts of Law Enforcement Agencies for restoring peace in Balochistan and Karachi," said the press release.

The accused was provided with a defending officer as per legal provisions, the ISPR added.

There has been no date announce yet for Yadav's execution.