Pakistan has sentenced Indian 'spy' Kulbhushan Jadhav to death for espionage and waging war against Islamabad. The Islamic country had arrested Jadhav in March 2016 in Baluchistan accusing him of being an undercover RAW agent. He was also accused of adding fuel to Baluch separatist movement and trying to create trouble in high-profile China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. Rejecting the allegations at that time New Delhi had sought consular access to Jadhav, which was denied.

The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said that a Field General Court Martial awarded the capital punishment and Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa had confirmed the sentence. "He confessed before a Magistrate and the court that he was tasked by RAW to plan, coordinate and organize espionage, sabotage activities aiming to destabilize and wage war against Pakistan by impeding the efforts of law enforcement agencies for restoring peace in Baluchistan and Karachi," the ISPR said.

Reacting strongly, India has said that if Pakistan chooses to go ahead with the death sentence it will regard it as “premeditated murder without observing basic norms of law and justice”. In March this year, Islamabad had ruled out Jadhav's extradition and said an FIR had been registered against him.

From the very beginning India has said that Jadhav is indeed an Indian national and a retired naval officer, who ran a legitimate business from Iran, and might have inadvertently crossed over to Pakistan. India has also conceded that the Pakistani authorities had harassed him and charged him with spying.

India’s demarche to the Pak envoy described the proceedings against Jadhav as ‘farcical’ and said, “The proceedings that have led to the sentence against Shri Jadhav are farcical in the absence of any credible evidence against him. It is significant that our High Commission was not even informed that Shri Jadhav was being brought to trial."

Amnesty International has also slammed Pakistan on handing out the death sentence to Jadhav. The Indian arm of the organization took to twitter to question the way Pakistan's military courts function. Amnesty stated that Pakistan's military courts act against the established norms of jurisprudence with no access to charges and evidence against a person and sentence based on that given.