India assessing legal options to Kulbhushan Jadhav, says MEA
■ ‘Will do everything to protect Indian national’
India is examining various legal options to protect former Indian naval officer Kulbhushan Jadhav who is currently imprisoned in Pakistan, the ministry of external affairs (MEA) said on Thursday, without elaborating on what these options could be. The comment by the MEA was made in a response to several media queries, including one on whether India would approach the International Court of Justice (ICJ) again.
“At this stage, we are assessing our legal options. We will do our utmost to protect the life of the Indian national,” spokesperson in the ministry of external affairs Anurag Srivastava said at an online media briefing.
India had on Wednesday
accused Pakistan of both coercing Mr Jadhav not to file a review petition against the verdict of a Pakistani military court and of refusing to implement last year’s ICJ verdict in letter and spirit.
Mr Jadhav, a retired Indian Navy officer, was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court on charges of espionage and terrorism in April 2017. Weeks later, India approached the ICJ against Pakistan for denial of consular access to Mr Jadhav and challenging the death sentence. The ICJ, then, restrained Pakistan from executing him.
New Delhi had reacted, after Islamabad issued a statement “inviting” India to file the review and reconsideration petition on behalf of Mr Jadhav “to give effect” to the ICJ judgment.
A military court had on April 10, 2017, sentenced Mr Jadhav to death on charges of “espionage and sabotage”.
Islamabad has been claiming that Mr Jadhav was “apprehended by Pakistan law enforcement agencies on March 3, 2016 after he illegally crossed over into Pakistan” and that he had been engaging in “espionage, terrorist and sabotage activities aimed at destabilising and waging war against Pakistan”. But New Delhi has consistently rubbished these claims as false and baseless.