The Hindu EDITORIAL :- Kulbushan Jadhav death sentence (कुलभूषण जाधव की मौत की सजा ): Risky, ill-considered

The Hindu Editorial

Kulbushan Jadhav death sentence (कुलभूषण जाधव की मौत की सजा ): Risky, ill-considered

Pakistan’s announcement घोषणा on Kulbhushan Jadhav threatens धमकी to escalate बढ़ाना bilateral द्विपक्षीय tensions तनाव

Pakistan’s sudden announcement on Monday that former Indian naval officer Kulbhushan Jadhav has been sentenced to death मौत की सजा  by a Field General Court Martial is a development fraught व्याकुल with danger. It could lead to a rapid escalation in bilateral tensions that the region can ill afford. The trial, sentencing सजा, and its confirmation पुष्टि by the Pakistan Army chief, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, were carried out so secretly ( गुप्त रूप से ) that the news took many in Pakistan as well by surprise हैरान. There are glaring चमकीला holes in the procedures प्रक्रियाएं followed by Pakistan’s government and military in the investigation जाँच पड़ताल and trial of Mr. Jadhav. His recorded confession इकबालिया बयान that was broadcast at a press conference within weeks of his arrest in March 2016 appeared to have been spliced. At various points in the tape, and in the transcript प्रतिलिपी of the confession made available, Mr. Jadhav contradicts खंडन करना his own statements, बयान suggesting that he had been tutored पढ़ा हुआ . Even if the confession was admissible स्वीकार्य in a court of law, little by way of corroborative evidence दृढ़ साक्ष्य has been offered by Pakistan to back up the claim that Mr. Jadhav, who was allegedly कथित तौर पर arrested in Balochistan last year, had been plotting operations against the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj’s statement in Parliament detailing 13 requests by the government for consular दूतावास सम्बन्धी access, and replies from the Pakistan government that made the access conditional on India cooperating in the investigation, further casts the procedures followed in a rather poor light.  International human rights  agencies too have criticised आलोचना them. Mr. Jadhav must be allowed a retrial, preferably अधिमानता in a civil court and with recourse to appeal.