Pakistani army rules out deal over Indian ‘spy’

By Aamir Latif

KARACHI, Pakistan (AA) - Pakistan’s military on Thursday ruled out the possibility of any deal with longtime rival India over alleged Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav.

"Let me assure you, there is no question of any deal on Kulbhushan Jadhav. No doubt, he is a terrorist. His hands are printed with the blood of innocent Pakistanis," Maj. Gen. Babar Iftikhar, the army spokesman, said at a news conference in the capital Islamabad.

Replying to a series of questions about Jadhav, who has been sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court for spying, Iftikhar said Islamabad was only abiding by the verdict of International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the alleged Indian spy.

He was referring to a 2019 verdict, in which the ICJ ruled that Jadhav be treated under the Vienna Convention, asking Pakistan to provide him consular access and continue to stay his execution.

Last month, Pakistan invited India to challenge Jadhav’s conviction after the accused reportedly refused to, deciding instead to file a mercy petition -- a move that invited an ire from opposition parties that accused the government of Prime Minister Imran Khan of facilitating the alleged spy.

The offer was extended after Pakistan passed an ordinance in May, allowing its high courts to review sentences awarded by military courts.

Last week, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) had directed the government to offer India and Jadhav another opportunity to appoint a counsel.

New Delhi, however, contested Islamabad’s claim, saying there has been “no communication” from Pakistan after the IHC ’s order.

- Arrest of Jadhav

Jadhav – who Pakistan says was a serving officer in the Indian Navy – was arrested in 2016 in the town of Mashkel in the southwestern Balochistan province, a few miles from the border with Iran.

Allegedly disguised as Mubarak Hussein Patel, a Muslim, he was accused of running a spy network for the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), India's premier intelligence agency, from the Iranian port of Chabahar.

Video confessions of his spying were also released, which India claimed to have been recorded under duress.

A Pakistani military court sentenced him to death in April 2017 on espionage and terrorism charges. No date, however, was set for his execution, which would be by hanging.

New Delhi denies Islamabad’s charges, saying Jadhav was a retired naval officer who was “kidnapped" in Iran, where he was doing business.

However, his presence in Pakistan was never credibly explained.

India moved the ICJ, which stayed the execution in May 2017, pending a final decision in the proceedings.

In July 2019, the ICJ ruled that Jadhav be treated under the Vienna Convention, asking Pakistan to provide him consular access and continue to stay his execution.

- Ties with Saudi Arabia

Responding to a question regarding reported strain in ties with longtime ally Saudi Arabia over Kashmir dispute, Iftikhar said: " Relations with Saudi Arabia are brotherly” and will remain the same.

"Pakistan government and its people are proud of relations with Saudi Arabia," he went on to say.

He said Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa, the army chief, would be visiting Riyadh "as per schedule."

Earlier this month, Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi asked the OIC to stop dilly-dallying on convening a meeting of the group’s Council of Foreign Ministers on Kashmir.

He warned that if the OIC fails to do so, "I will request my prime minister to convene the meeting of those Muslim countries, which want to support us on the Kashmir issue, whether it will be through the OIC or any other forum."

Pakistan, he said, skipped a Malaysia summit last year with a “heavy heart” because of Saudi Arabia’s reservations, so now it was time for Riyadh to step forward.

"We cannot even think of offending Saudi Arabia. It was just a request to Saudi Arabia, which was, is, and will remain one of our closest friends," Qureshi was quick to explain in an attempt to ease criticism from opposition parties, which termed his remarks "careless," saying it amounted to affecting the decades-long "brotherly relations" with Riyadh.