Reject Kulbhushan Jadhav mercy plea, Lahore High Court petitioned

Two separate petitions at the Lahore High Court plead that the court reject the mercy plea of Kulbhshan Jadhav, the Indian national sentenced to death in Pakistan.



Two separate petitions have landed at the Lahore High Court seeking that Indian national Kulbhushan Jadhav's mercy plea be rejected.
Jadhav, a former Indian Navy officer, was convicted of espionage by a Pakistani military court and was sentenced to death by hanging. Jadhav subsequently filed a mercy plea, petitioning Pakistan Army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa to commute his death sentence.



One of the petitions in front of the Lahore High Court is by a civilian named Mehmood Naqvi, who is well known in the court circuits for filing irrelevant pleas. The petition, filed in English, claims that Jadhav is an Indian spy and has twice confessed to being involved in incidents of terrorism in Pakistan.

Naqvi's plea asks Lahore High Court to direct General Bajwa that he reject Jadhav's mercy plea.
The other petition has been filed by the Lahore High Court Bar Association (LCBA) and also demands that the General Bajwa be asked not to accept Jadhav's mercy plea.
LCBA's petition states that as per Islam and Sunnah, only families of those killed in terror attacks allegedly planned and executed by Kulbashan, have the right to give mercy to Kulbashan. The chief of army staff General Bajwa, Pakistani president or any other figure do not hold any authority to allow Jadhav mercy, the petition states.
Jadhav, who Pakistan claims is an agent of India's external intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW), was sentenced to death on April 10 after finding him guilty of being involved in terror activities.
India, which rejected Pakistan's charge, slammed the 'farcical' trial under which Jadhav was sentenced to death. Later, New Delhi dragged Islamabad to the International Court of Justice, where it managed to win a stay on Jadhav's death sentence.

Read More

Pakistan makes a U-turn, won’t send back ‘spy

ISLAMABAD/NEW DELHI: Two months after Pakistan's top foreign affairs official Sartaj Aziz said there was inadequate evidence against the alleged Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav, Islamabad ruled out his extradition and said an FIR had been registered against him.
Jadhav was arrested in Balochistan on March 3, 2016, with authorities claiming that he was a RAW agent involved in "subversive activities" against Pakistan since 2013. But in December 2016, Aziz, while addressing the Senate, had said the dossier on Jadhav contained "mere statements" and did not have "any conclusive evidence".

Contradicting his previous statement, Aziz on Friday told lawmakers that the government was in the process of prosecuting Jadhav for carrying out "subversive and terrorist activities in Pakistan".

Official sources in New Delhi, responding to media reports from Pakistan, said, "The government has on several occasions completely rejected the baseless allegations against Kulbhushan Jadhav. The circumstances of his presence in Pakistan remain unclear, particularly because we have not been provided consular access despite our repeated requests.

We expect Pakistan to follow well-established international practice in this regard and ensure his well-being while he is in its custody." Aziz told the Senate that a dossier had been prepared based on thorough groundwork and inputs from various state departments on the "Indian involvement in internal affairs of Pakistan."

The dossier, Aziz said, was shared with the UN secretary general. "It includes details about Kulbhushan Jadhav and his activities," he said, adding that the government was also examining the possibilities of sharing it with other countries and international organisations.

Read More