Editorial

Getting Justice for Jadhav

By the Editor: Siddharth Sehgal

How would you negotiate for freedom of your citizen who is abducted by a state which has no evidence of espionage or any credible case to prosecute him? Kulbhushan Jadhav’s death sentence by Pakistan’s military court shows the disregard towards the human rights or Geneva Convention norms and the way things are going, there is little hope that we’ll see due process taking place. So the question is how we get our guy back.

The hatred and grudge Pakistan and Pakistani harbors for us is no secret to anyone, so we should rule out any fair play where Indian citizens, whether they are spy or no spy, are concerned. We need to negotiate with Pakistani authorities as if we are negotiating with terrorists or those morons in Kashmir who were seen testing patience of our jawans and like any other criminal enterprise they understand things in terms of profit or loss, action and reaction. Which is why we need all the tools diplomatic, non-diplomatic or otherwise to get our message through, we should negotiate for a prisoner swap and if they don’t agree we can review the fates of their spies in our jail or may be another surgical strike will do, if Kulbhushan Jadhav is hanged without due process of consular access or appeal in a civilian court, let us return the favor, it’s tit for tat, there is no other way.

Now coming to the question of Jadhav being a spy, why would an Indian spy carry an Indian passport in a country where he has every reason to fear for his life. These are just fabricated baseless, allegations by a government neck deep in show trials and human rights violations. I read somewhere that a man under torture would confess anything to end the pain. An abducted, tortured and under duress man can be forced to divulge his personal details which can be documented and planted in anyway possible and our analysts also believe that Jadhav has been forced to confess charges against him. If Pakistanis have a proof beyond doubt against Kulbhushan Jadhav, they should not have any problem in granting consular access request from Indian embassy. They are fearful of the fact that Kulbhushan might shine light on the circumstances of his arrest and whole case will come crippling down. We have to make it clear to the other side that premeditated, institutional murder of an Indian citizen will not be forgiven.

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