Kulbhushan Yadav

Kulbhushan Sudhir Jadhav (also spelled Kulbhushan Yadav, alias (alleged) Hussain Mubarak Patel) (born 16 April 1970) is an Indian national arrested in Balochistan, Pakistan, over charges of terrorism and spying for India's intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW).

The Pakistani government states that he is a serving commander in the Indian Navy who was involved in subversive activities inside Pakistan, and was arrested on 3 March 2016 during a counter-intelligence operation in Balochistan. The Indian government recognises Jadhav as a former naval officer, but denies any links with him and maintains he took premature retirement and was possibly abducted from Iran.

On 10 April 2017, Jadhav was sentenced to death by a Field General Court Martial (FGCM) in Pakistan. On May 10, 2017, the International Court of Justice stayed the hanging of Jadhav after India approached it against the death sentence.

Jadhav was born in Sangli, Maharashtra, on 16 April 1970 to Sudhir and Avanti Jadhav. His father is a retired Mumbai Police officer. Jadhav is married and has two children. His family resides in Powai, Mumbai. According to reports in the Pakistani media, Jadhav joined the Indian National Defence Academy in 1987 and was commissioned in the engineering branch of the Indian Navy in 1991. After the 2001 attack on the Parliament of India, he started gathering information and intelligence within India. After 14 years of service he allegedly entered into intelligence operations in 2003, and established a small business in Chabahar in Iran. From Chabahar, he made several undetected visits to Pakistan, where his activities were confined to Karachi and Balochistan.

According to the Pakistani government, on 3 March 2016, Jadhav was arrested inside Balochistan in Mashkel near the border region of Chaman, having made illegal entry into Pakistan via Iran. He was arrested during a counterintelligence raid conducted by security forces. Pakistani security forces reported Jadhav as a serving officer in the Indian Navy and asserted that he was commissioned to the Research and Analysis Wing, India's external intelligence agency. They believed him to be involved in subversive activities in Balochistan and Karachi. Jadhav was shifted to Islamabad for interrogation.

Balochistan Home Minister Sarfraz Bugti said that Jadhav was working for RAW and was in contact with Baloch separatists and terrorists fuelling sectarian violence in the province and the country. He further added that he was involved in financially supporting terrorists and admitted his involvements in Karachi's unrest. Interrogation of the intelligence operative also revealed that naval combat training was being conferred to Baloch separatists, in an attempt to target the ports of Gwadar and Karachi. Pakistani authorities stated that Jadhav, during his interrogation, gave details about his funding, and plans to destabilise the country. They added that Jadhav also disclosed the presence of other Indian intelligence operatives in the southern metropolis.

During the joint conference held by the army and the government, Jadhav's video confession was made public. Asim Bajwa told that Jadhav converted to Islam, adopted a false identity and worked at Gadani under the cover of a scrap dealer. He stated that Jadhav established a network of operatives, provided funds, and arranged to smuggle people into the country for the purpose of terrorism. He said that Jadhav told the interrogators to use a code phrase – "your monkey is with us" – to inform his handlers and the Indian authorities about his arrest. Asim also claimed to have confiscated maps from him. He enunciated that there could be no clearer evidence of foreign interference in Pakistan. He termed the arrest of an intelligence or an armed forces officer of his rank a big achievement.

The Indian Ministry of External Affairs stated that Jadhav was an Indian Navy officer who retired prematurely, but he has no link with the government since his retirement. The Indian High Commission has also sought consular access to Jadhav but Pakistan has not agreed to it. According to Indian sources, Jadhav was abducted by Pakistan's forces from the Iran–Pakistan border and Pakistan fabricated his documents and leaked them without realising there were glaring inconsistencies in the same. According to sections of Indian media, the Sunni group Jaish ul-Adl is responsible for the kidnapping of Jadhav from the Iran–Pakistan border.

According to Indian officials, Jadhav owns a cargo business in Iran and had been working out of Bandar Abbas and Chabahar ports. "It appears that he strayed into Pakistani waters. But there is also a possibility that he was lured into Pakistan sometime back and fake documents were created on him by the ISI." Pakistan has previously raised concerns over involvement of foreign elements in terrorist activities in its territory but this was the first instance of India acknowledging the arrest across the border of an individual associated with its armed forces.

Pakistan stated that Jadhav entered Chabahar with a visa stamped on a fake passport numbered L9630722 in 2003 where he got a new identity of Hussain Mubarak Patel—born in 30 August 1968, from Maharashtra, India.  Officials claimed that his job was to destabilise Pakistan by strengthening a separatist movement in Balochistan and Karachi—a mission which officially began in 2013. They said that Jadhav was an expert in naval fighting techniques. During interrogation Jadhav revealed that at Wadh, he was in contact with Haji Baloch, who provided financial and logistic support to Baloch separatists and the IS network in Karachi.  He also said that the masterminds of the Safoora bus attack, where gunmen shot dead 45 Ismaili passengers, were also in contact with Haji Baloch. Jadhav added that he had met Baloch several times, sometimes for planning sectarian violence in Karachi and the rest of Sindh. Based on Jadhav's information, Pakistan said it arrested hundreds of undercover operatives. In April 2016, Islamabad briefed diplomats of various countries regarding Jadhav's arrest and his claimed involvement in terrorist activities. The evidence was also shared with the United States and United Kingdom. Separately, Pakistan's Interior Minister Nisar Ali Khan held a meeting with the Iranian ambassador. In September, Pakistan prepared a dossier outlining evidence of Indian-sponsored terrorism and provided it to the United Nations Secretary General. It included Jadhav's details.

Pakistan's DG ISPR Asim Bajwa said that Jadhav's goal was to sabotage the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor through propaganda—with Gwadar port as a special target—and also to create disharmony among the Baloch nationalist political parties. Jadhav had also purchased boats at the Iranian port in Chabahar to target Karachi and Gwadar ports in an alleged terrorist plot.

Jadhav in a "video confession" said that the Indian intelligence agency RAW was involved in destabilising Pakistan. He also said that he was a serving officer of the Indian Navy and was working in Pakistan at the behest of the RAW.

Referring to the video, Bajwa said, "There can be no clearer evidence of Indian interference in Pakistan," and added that Jadhav's activities were nothing short of state-sponsored terrorism. In the video, Jadhavacknowledged that he launched a covert operation against Pakistan from the Iranian port of Chabahar for which he used to get instructions from Research and Analysis Wing's joint secretary Anil Gupta. He also said that the RAW had been funding the Baloch separatists for the Balochistan insurgency. Jadhav said:

In the video, Jadhav revealed that he had been directing various activities in Karachi and Balochistan on instructions from RAW since 2013 and had a role in the deteriorating law and order situation in Karachi. While giving details of these activities, Jadhav said:

India has rejected the video confession. Union Minister Kiren Rijiju claimed, "It is a completely doctored video, fake video made by Pakistan. They are just cooking up stories and doctoring videos to defame India." According to Indian officials, Jadhav owns a cargo business in Iran and had been working out of Bandar Abbas and Chabahar ports. "It appears that he strayed into Pakistani waters. But there is also a possibility that he was lured into Pakistan sometime back and fake documents were created on him by the ISI." According to another official in the security establishment, Jadhav "may have been trapped by Pakistan authorities after they came to know of his background" and "it could be a planned operation to fabricate documents and later show the arrest from Chaman."

Indian intelligence officials suspect that Jadhav was abducted from the Iran–Pakistan border by an extremist radical group called Jaishul Adil. Jaishul Adil, designated a terrorist organisation by Iran, is linked to Al Qaeda and has been accused of targeting Iranian border guards. Indian agencies have stated that the video released by Pakistan was heavily edited and the audio has been spliced in several places. They also pointed to the inconsistencies between the claims made by Balochistan minister Sarfaraz Bugti that Jadhav was picked up from Chaman on the Afghan border, and those made by General Bajwa that he was picked from Saravan.

On 3 April, it was reported that Iran was investigating whether Jadhav crossed the Pakistan-Iran border illegally after the matter was taken up by Pakistani officials in Hassan Rouhani's visit to Islamabad. However, Rouhani denied the report, saying that the matter was not even mentioned. Iranian Ambassador to India Gholamreza Ansari said that Iran was probing into the matter. He said that once Iran completes the investigation, it will share the reports with "friendly countries". The Iranian embassy in Pakistan criticised "certain elements in Pakistan" for spreading "undignified and offensive" remarks that were attributed to Rouhani and added that these rumours "will not impact the positive views of the two countries regarding each other" as Pakistan had proven to be Iran's "trusted partner and neighbor".

In India, a section of media televised that India had sought consular access to assess the facts, but Pakistan had denied it on the pretext of Jadhav's claimed involvement in terrorist activities. Pakistan's diplomat to India said that consular access wasn't automatic during cases related to security, explaining Jadhav had been travelling "under a fake name with an original Indian passport" since 2003. Indian media quoted government sources that Jadhav owned a cargo business in Iran and had been working out of Bandar Abbas and Chabahar ports. The New Indian Express reported that according to Indian government sources, Jadhav was lured into Pakistan and fake documents were created by Inter-Services Intelligence.

Indian author and journalist Hussain Zaidi claimed that Jadhav was a spy and may have been arrested by Pakistan's Intelligence Bureau because after a stay period of 14 years, he had become a bit complacent. It is alleged that his phone was on surveillance and his habit of talking in Marathi while conversing with his family blew his cover, as it did not commensurate with his fake identity.

While speaking at the Pakistan Institute of International Affairs, German diplomat Gunter Mulack claimed that Jadhav was caught by the Taliban and sold to Pakistani intelligence. Pakistani newspaper The News noted that no Taliban groups operate in Iran, and stated that Mulack's statement reflected a "poor understanding of the issues and the dynamics of regional politics." After Jadhav's sentencing, Mulack told the Times of India that his information was based on "unconfirmed speculation from reliable sources which I cannot identify, nor confirm. Maybe it is not true."

On 10 April 2017, Jadhav was sentenced to death by a Field General Court Martial (FGCM) in Pakistan, following a confession before the magistrate and court. Jadhav's trial lasted three and a half months and the charges he was convicted for included spying for India, waging war against Pakistan, sponsoring terrorism, and destabilising the state. He was tried in a military court due to his naval background and the sensitive nature of his case, involving espionage and sabotage. The sentence was confirmed by army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa, and released via the ISPR. Pakistan's Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif stated that under the provisions of the Pakistan Army Act of 1952, Jadhav had the right to appeal against his conviction on three appellate forums within 40 days.

Following the sentencing, the government of India summoned Pakistani High Commissioner to India, Abdul Basit and issued a demarche stating that the proceedings that led to Jadhav's sentencing were farcical and that India would regard Jadhav's execution as murder in the first degree. Basit replied to the Indian foreign secretary that "on the one hand you perpetrate terrorism in Pakistan, and record a protest against us on the other. We have not done anything wrong. A terrorist must be punished." In an interview to India Today, Basit said Pakistan held sufficient evidence against Jadhav and it was shared with the Indian government. He also said that Jadhav was given a fair trial, including the right to seek clemency.

In a statement issued in the Parliament of India on 11 April 2017, Rajnath Singh, India's Minister of Home Affairs, reiterated that Jadhav was kidnapped by Pakistani agencies from Iran and put through trial as a RAW agent. Sushma Swaraj, India's Minister of External Affairs said there was no evidence of any wrongdoing by Jadhav and termed his sentencing an act of "premeditated murder". Swaraj said that if Pakistan implemented the death sentence, the bilateral relations between both countries would face dire consequences.

During a briefing to the Senate of Pakistan, Pakistani defence minister Khawaja Asif stated that Jadhav's prosecution followed "due legal process" based on the country's laws, rules and regulations and "there was nothing in the legal proceedings that was against the law." He said that Jadhav had been provided a defending officer throughout the course of his trial. He rejected India's accusations terming the trial a "premeditated murder". Asif added that Pakistan would allow no concessions to elements who threatened its security and stability, from inside the country or across the border.

International Court of Justice

On 9 May 2017, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered a stay on Jadhav's sentencing after India approached it to contest Pakistan's death penalty. On 15 May, ICJ proceedings began in The Hague to review the case. India and Pakistan both sent their legal teams to put forward their arguments, led by Harish Salve and Khawar Qureshi respectively. The last time both countries faced each other at the ICJ was 18 years earlier, concerning the infamous Atlantique incident.