Pakistan followed due legal process in Jadhav's trial: Khawaja Asif

Actions of Indian forces in occupied-Kashmir amounted to ‘premeditated murder’, said the minsiter

ISLAMABAD: Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Tuesday said that awarding the death sentence to Indian spy Kulbushan Jadhav was followed in accordance with due process of law.

Refuting Indian claims that the sentence was premeditated murder, the minister told the Senate that the law of the land was applied and the trial in question went on for three months. He further added that the actions of the Indian forces in occupied-Kashmir amounted to ‘premeditated murder’.

"We have done absolutely nothing that's against the rules and regulations but there is premeditated murder going on even today in Kashmir," said the minister.

The minister told the lawmakers that "there was nothing in the legal proceedings that was against the law," said Asif, adding that "the trial went on for three months."

On Monday, Jadhav – who was caught from Balochistan last year and who has confessed to instigating terrorism in Pakistan – was awarded the death penalty in an unprecedented decision that immediately sparked a bitter diplomatic spat between the two hostile neighbours.

Pakistan will not become part of any alliance based on sectarianism, assures Asif

Addressing the senate, Asif also tried clearing the air surrounding the Saudi-led military alliance and Pakistan’s participation in it.

He said the country wouldn’t become part of any alliance which is created to foment sectarian strife in the region and that it was also Pakistan’s duty to protect Saudi Arabia.



The defence minister shared with the senate that Saudi Arabia had written a letter requesting Pakistan to allow Gen (retd) Raheel Sharif to head the alliance. The government responded that the former army chief could be sent to join it whenever the middle-eastern country was in need.

He also said that a meeting to discuss the military alliance of Muslim countries and setting the Term of References (ToRs) was due in May, on which Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani asked him to get the ToRs approved by parliament first.