Baloch activists join India to condemn Pak over Kulbhushan Jadhav death sentence

Geneva [Switzerland], Apr. 11 (ANI): Balochistan activists on Tuesday joined India to condemn Pakistan for awarding death sentence to former Indian naval officer and alleged spy Kulbhushan Jadhav. Speaking to ANI, Baloch Republican Party representative at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) Abdul Nawaz Bugti said the act was a part of Paksitan's propaganda activity to accuse Jadhav of being involved in espionage in Balochistan. "We condemn the death sentence awarded by the Pakistani military to Indian citizen Kulbhushan Yadav," Bugti said. "We would also like to clarify that it is sheer propaganda by the Pakistani state and Pakistani military to accuse of Jadhav of being involved in espionage and other illegal activities in Balochistan," he added. Bugti further said that Jadhav, who was abducted from Iran and later appeared in Pakistan, was made to confess by security agencies that he was backing Baloch freedom. "We believe India should do whatever it takes to secure the lives of it citizens and we believe that support for the Baloch freedom struggle should not be conditioned to a particular incident such as the case of Jadhav," he added. Jadhav, who was arrested in March last year by Pakistan and accused by the country of spying, was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court yesterday triggering tension between India and Pakistan. Observers and experts on criminal or espionage-related laws in a majority of countries have suggested that the death sentence against Jadhav is a clear violation of Article 36 of the Vienna Convention that makes it mandatory for every government to provide consular access to an arrested foreign national by officials of his/her government. German Ambassador to Pakistan Dr. Gunter Mulack, while speaking at the Pakistan Institute of International Affairs within a month of Jadhav's arrest last year, informed the gathering that the Indian had been actually caught by the Taliban in Iran and sold to Pakistani intelligence. The Amnesty International on Monday slammed Pakistan over the death sentence given to Jadhav by the military court and asserted that Islamabad had violated international fair trial safeguards in issuing the statement. Jadhav was not tried and sentenced by an ordinary Pakistani court but by a military court more than a year after his arrest in Balochistan on charges of espionage and sabotage. (ANI)