Pakistan to execute Indian spy

Pakistan will execute an Indian who allegedly confessed to spying for Indian intelligence, the powerful military said Monday in a move that quickly raised tensions between the nucleararmed rivals.

The man, named by the army as Kulbushan Sudhir Jadhav who also goes by the alias Hussein Mubarak Patel, was found guilty by a military court which was closed to the public and was sentenced to death.

“Today, ( army chief) Gen Qamer Javed Bajwa has confirmed his death sentence,” a military statement said, without stating when the execution would take place.

New Delhi slammed the decision. “If this sentence 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 foreign ministry said.

The Pakistani statement said Jadhav told the court he was tasked by India’s Research and Analysis Wing intelligence agency to “plan, coordinate, and organise espionage/ sabotage activities aiming to destabilize and wage war against Pakistan” in the southwestern province of Balochistan and in the bustling port city of Karachi.

A security official told AFP the court- martial had been kept secret even within the ranks of the military.

India has previously denied as “baseless” the claim that Jadhav, whom Islamabad says was arrested in Balochistan in March last year, was a spy.