Free Kulbhushan Jadhav: The arguments India would make before ICJ

The arguments before the International Court of Justice in the Kulbhushan Jadhav case will take centre stage in 2018. India is hopeful of freeing Jadhav who has been called a spy by Pakistan.

Jadhav's execution was stayed by the ICJ in 2017 and the matter is up for final arguments now. There is a host of points that India would make during the arguments. Lending support to India's case is the statements by two activists from Balochistan.

At least two prominent Baloch leaders have said clearly that Jadhav who is now on a death row in Pakistan was not found in Balochistan. Apart from the statements of these two persons, Indian investigators have also found with the help of Iran that it was a group called the Lashkar-e-Khorasan which had abducted Jadhav and sold him to the Pakistan spy agency.

Two Baloch activists, Mehrab Sarjov and Hybrayair Marri have said that Jadhav was never arrested from Balochistan. Marri said that Jadhav was in fact abducted from Iran and sold off to the ISI and Pakistan military. Marri also speaks about the secret torture cells in Pakistan which even the parliament or supreme court is not aware of.

Sarjov goes on to explain how exactly Jadhav was abducted by the LeK. He said Jadhav had not entered Pakistan voluntarily. I, fact he was sold to the ISI by the terrorist group. The allegation by Pakistan that Jadhav was an Indian spy involved in terrorism and espionage is false, he also adds.

Sarjov further says that a trap was laid to kidnap him from Iran and then take him to Pakistan. Jadhav was approached by some persons with a business offer. After he hurriedly agreed, he travelled to the Iran border town of Saravan in a rented car. A Baloch separatist boarded the car following which Jadhav was trapped and taken to Pakistan, Sarjov also said.

Sarjov further added that the Lashkar-e-Khorasan which specialises in abducting foreign nations took Jadhav to an undisclosed location in Zamaran and kept him there for three weeks. A deal was struck and Jadhav was sold to the ISI for a price, Sarjov further said.

Highly placed sources say that these would be part of the arguments before the ICJ. There is a lot of proving that Pakistan would have to do to ascertain that Jadhav was indeed a spy. The very fact that the entire trial was held in secrecy without Jadhav being provided legal aid is a sham. Moreover Pakistan has maintained that Jadhav was alone in Balochistan when he was caught.

Pakistan has not gone into various aspects such as how a spy could have operated alone in a foreign country. No where during the trial does Pakistan speak about the local contacts of Jadhav. This itself is another anomaly in the case which we will use during our arguments, the officer also noted.

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