ISLAMABAD: Adviser to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz has said the government is preparing a case against Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav for his prosecution, dismissing the possibility of him being handed over to India.
“The FIR (first information report) is ready and we are preparing for his prosecution,” the adviser said in the Senate while responding to a question asked by Senator Sehar Kamran of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) during the question hour on Friday.
“This is a very delicate and sensitive issue and requires detailed preparation and homework,” he added.
####Aziz tells Senate dossier on Indian involvement in terrorist activities may be shared with other countries
The PPP senator had asked the adviser to inform the house about the steps the government had so far taken in the case of Jadhav.
Kulbhushan Jadhav, a serving Indian navy officer and an alleged operative of the country’s intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), had been caught by security forces in March last year. His capture was flaunted by the military as “a proof of Indian interference and state-sponsored terrorism”.
In his recorded confessional statement, Jadhav accepted that he had been assigned by RAW to foment unrest in Balochistan and Karachi and had been working with Baloch student organisations and insurgents and terrorist groups for the purpose.
Mr Aziz said the government had shared with the United Nations secretary general a dossier on the Indian involvement in subversive and terrorist activities inside Pakistan, which also contained details about Jadhav and his activities.
“We are examining the possibility of sharing the dossier with other countries and international organisations as well,” he said, adding that the information provided in the dossier was based on thorough groundwork and inputs from various departments.
Mr Aziz claimed that the dossier presented by the government to prove involvement of Indian state actors in the subversive activities inside Pakistan received appreciation at the international level and Pakistan’s viewpoint was being accepted internationally.
When Senator Talha Mehmood of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl asked whether the government had any plan to hand over Jadhav to his country like it did in the case of US national Raymond Davis, the adviser categorically stated that no such thing was on the cards and the Indian spy would be prosecuted in Pakistan.
At this point, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan asked why the prime minister was hesitant to take the name of Jadhav in his speeches. “I had announced that if Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif mentions the name of Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav in his speech, I will donate Rs50,000 to the Pakistan Association of the Blind,” he said.
Mr Aziz replied that the prime minister would speak about Jadhav at an appropriate time and then Mr Ahsan would have to donate the money.
Published in Dawn, March 4th, 2017
