Pak ruling akin to the verdict of a kangaroo court

loom large. Why is Pakistan raising the ante against India now in such a brazen and pro vocative manner in espionage case that seemingly lacks credi bility ?

The kangaroo nature of the Jadhav verdict can be linked to a startling disclosure by the Pakistani media in early December 2016 when it was reported that the “Adviser to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz kicked up a controversy by stating in the Senate that government could not finalise a dossier on cap tured Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav because of inadequate evidence provided so far”.

This was the equivalent of setting the cat among the pigeons and within a few hours the Pakistan Foreign office scrambled and the media car ried another statement that totally denied the initial state ment by Sarataj Aziz and the anti-india line was reiterated.

While India conducted the 26/11 terror attack case against Kasab in the most transparent manner possible — the Jadhav case has been rushed through in the most opaque manner.

Pakistan’s brazenness in defying established interna tional consular norms and cock ing-a-snook at India may be attributed to a new surge of con fidence about how Rawalpindi is perceived by the major powers – in this case the United States of America, China and to an extent Russia. Projecting Delhi as the obstacle to the China-pakistan economic corridor a month ahead of the mid May summit being convened by President Xi Jiping in Beijing is one strand – the other being the feelers being put out by the Trump adminis tration to ostensibly ‘mediate in the troubled India-pakistan bi-lateral. J&K is going through another cycle of violence and a sense of déjà-vu is palpable.