ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will execute an Indian who allegedly confessed to spying for Indian intelligence, the powerful military said Monday in a move that could raise tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbors.
The man, named by the army as Kulbushan Sudhir Jadhav who also goes by the alias Hussein Mubarak Patel, was arrested in the southwestern province of Balochistan last year.
He was found guilty at a court-martial which was closed to the public and sentenced to death.
“Today, (army chief) Gen. Qamer Javed Bajwa has confirmed his death sentence,” a military statement said, without stating when the execution would take place.
The statement said Jadhav had told the court he was tasked by India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) intelligence agency to “plan coordinate, and organize espionage/sabotage activities aiming to destabilize and wage war against Pakistan” by impeding law enforcement efforts in Balochistan and in the bustling port city of Karachi.
A security official told AFP the court-martial had been kept secret even within the ranks of the military.
Pakistani media were describing Jadhav as a RAW agent within days of his arrest in March 2016. At the time the military also released a video showing Jadhav confessing to working in Pakistan for years, though it was unclear if it had been filmed under duress.
'Baseless accusation'
India has denied as “baseless” the claims that Jadhav was a spy. There was no immediate reaction from New Delhi to Monday’s announcement.
The arch-rivals routinely accuse each other of sending spies into their countries and it is not uncommon for either to expel diplomats accused of espionage, particularly at times of high tension.
However, death sentences have rarely been passed in such cases in recent years.
In 2013 an Indian sentenced to death for spying in Pakistan was killed in jail after being attacked by fellow inmates. Sarabjit Singh had been on death row for 16 years.
In 1999 another Indian, Sheikh Shamim, was hanged in a Pakistani jail almost ten years after he was caught “red-handed” near the border and arrested on charges of spying.
Previous cases have largely gone through civilian courts.
Analyst Hassan Askari said the decision to execute Jadhav would “further increase tension between the two countries.”
“The military has given a severe punishment which is according to Pakistani law,” he told AFP.
“But we will have to see if Pakistan can sustain the political and diplomatic fallout.”
Relations have plummeted since a deadly attack on an Indian army base in the disputed region of Kashmir in September, which New Delhi blamed on Pakistan-based Islamist group Jaish-e-Mohammed.
There have since been repeated outbreaks of cross-border firing, with both sides reporting deaths and injuries.
Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since the end of British colonial rule in 1947. Both claim the Himalayan territory in full.
The neighbors have fought three wars since independence from Britain seven decades ago, two of them over Kashmir.
Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest but least developed province, has been battling a years-long separatist insurgency which the army has repeatedly characterised as “terrorism” promoted by hostile states such as India.
Karachi, a city of 20 million and Pakistan’s economic hub, is also frequently hit by religious, political and ethnic violence.