JADHAV PLEA: PAK ARMY MAY DECIDE ON MERCY

The Pakistan Army said Thursday it is close to a decision on the mercy petition submitted by Kulbhushan Jadhav, the Indian national sentenced to death by a military court there for alleged involvement in espionage and terrorist activities. “Kulbhushan Jadhav’s mercy petition has come to the army chief.

: The Pakistan Army said Thursday it is close to a decision on the mercy petition submitted by Kulbhushan Jadhav, the Indian national sentenced to death by a military court there for alleged involvement in espionage and terrorist activities.

“Kulbhushan Jadhav’s mercy petition has come to the army chief. There is a process, everything goes through a process but I can assure that it is near finalisation and we will give you news about this very soon,” Major General Asif Ghafoor, chief military spokesman, told reporters, without giving more details.

A military court has already rejected Jadhav’s mercy plea. If his petition is rejected by the army chief, Jadhav can next approach the President.

The execution of Jadhav, a former Indian Navy officer, was stayed after India took the matter to the International Court of Justice in The Hague. The ICJ said Jadhav should not be executed until it gives a final ruling.

The Pakistani military said Jadhav was arrested in Balochistan in March 2016, accusing him of involvement in spying and subversive activities in Balochistan and Karachi.

India dismissed the claim saying Jadhav was kidnapped from the Iranian port of Chabahar.

Foreign minister Khawaja Asif created a stir last month claiming that Pakistan could have swapped Jadhav for a terrorist involved in a 2014 attack on an army school in Peshawar who he said was in the custody of Afghanistan. Afghanistan said it never suggested such a swap.

During the wide-ranging news briefing, Ghafoor also spoke on the situation along the LoC, which has witnessed numerous violations of a ceasefire that was put in place in 2003.