- Basit rejects objections, says Pakistan has done nothing wrong with Indian terrorist
India’s Ministry of External Affairs on Monday summoned Pakistan’s High Commissioner Abdul Basit, protesting against the sentencing of Indian agent Kulbushan Jadhav to death.
“If the death sentence, issued to the ‘former’ Indian Navy official, is carried out, it will be a ‘premeditated murder,’” the Indian media quoted the ‘diplomatic note’ as saying. After meeting the officials, Abdul Basit rejected Indian objections to the RAW agent’s death sentence, saying the country’s national security is Islamabad’s utmost priority.
“You can’t sponsor terrorism and then summon an ambassador to protest over the sentence of terrorists. Nothing matters more than national security,” he said. Basit said that Pakistan has done nothing wrong in giving death sentence to a terrorist. Our desire for peace in the region must not be taken as our weakness,” he said.
Earlier, India lodged a ‘formal protest’ with Pakistan over Kulbhushan’s death sentence and announced that in case the punishment was carried out it will regard it as premeditated murder’. According to a statement, Indian foreign secretary summoned Abdul Basit to handover a demarche on the issue.
The Indian demarche claimed that Kulbhushan was ‘kidnapped’ last year from Iran and his subsequent presence in Pakistan has never been explained credibly, it said. Pakistan sentenced the Indian agent to death for carrying out espionage and sabotage activities in Balochistan and Karachi.
The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) has said that the accused was provided with a defending officer as per legal provisions.
Dalbir Kaur, sister of Sarabjit Singh who died in a Pakistan jail in 2013, has said that India should approach the International Court of Justice and ensure that the death sentence awarded to the Indian agent was not carried out. “Our government should take appropriate steps. They should appeal in the international court of justice and seek a stay,” she said.
She asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to speak about this to his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif. She also said that she could fully understand what his family must be going through at this hour. Sarabjit died following an attack on him by inmates of a Lahore prison in April 2013. He was convicted for terrorism and spying by a court and sentenced to death in 1991.
However, the government had stayed his execution for an indefinite period in 2008. Quoting unidentified government officials, the Indian media reported that India would stall the release of 12 Pakistani prisoners, who were to be repatriated this week. The repatriation of prisoners who had completed their sentences has been in practice since 2008 when Pakistan and India signed a joint agreement.
Since May 2014, around 80 Pakistanis were deported after serving their sentences, the media reported. “It is not the right time for the release of Pakistani prisoners. We are planning harsher steps to protest the death sentence to the navy officer,” the Indian officials said.