India to consider all "appropriate actions" to protect & ensure return of Kulbhushan Jadhav from Pak
The Government of India on Wednesday (July 8) asserted that it will do its "utmost" to protect
Kulbhushan Jadhav, who is in Pakistan custody, and ensure his safe return to India.
"International Court of Justice (ICJ) has already held that Pakistan is in egregious violation of international law. Government will do its utmost to protect Shri Jadhav and ensure his safe return to India. To that end, it would consider all appropriate options," MEA spokesman Anurag Srivastava said in reply to media queries.
The comments came after Pakistan claimed that Kulbhushan Jadhav, who is in Pakistan custody since 2016, has 'refused' to file a review petition and wants to go ahead with his pending mercy plea.
India has termed Pakistan's latest gestures another instance of 'farce' vis-a-vis implying Jadhav as a government of India spy.
New Delhi has repeatedly rejected Pakistan's allegations about Jadhav's involvement in 'spying and subversive activities' and maintained that he was kidnapped from the Iranian port of Chabahar where he was running a business.
MEA spokesman said: "We have been pursuing through diplomatic channels full and effective implementation of the ICJ judgment in the case of Shri Kulbushan Jadhav. The media statement made by Pakistan today in the case seeks to mask its continuing reticence to implement ICJ judgment in letter and spirit".
He further said: "Pakistan’s claim that Shri Jadhav, who is incarcerated in Pakistan’s custody, has refused to initiate review petition is a continuation of the farce that has been in play for the last four years. Shri Jadhav has been sentenced to execution through a farcical trial".
"He remains under custody of Pakistan’s military. He has clearly been coerced to refuse to file a review in his case.
India sought unimpeded access to Shri Jadhav to discuss his remedies under the Ordinance.
In a brazen attempt to scuttle even the inadequate remedy under the Ordinance, Pakistan has obviously coerced Shri Jadhav to forego his rights to seek an implementation of the judgment of the ICJ," Srivastava said.
Pakistan has on May 20, 2020 passed an Ordinance to allow for the High Court to review the sentence awarded by their military court. They have all along maintained that their laws allowed for effective review and reconsideration while "we have protested it all along", the spokesman said.
Senior Counsel Harish Salve, who represented India and Kulbhushan Jadhav in the International Court of Justice at The Hague last year, had said as per the verdict of the ICJ; Pakistan has to do everything to make Vienna Convention a "reality".
MEA spokesman said on July 8 that "Now, after almost a year, they have made a u-turn and issued an Ordinance to ostensibly provide for some sort of review. We have already expressed our serious concerns at the content of the Ordinance and how it violates the ICJ judgment. Pakistan is only seeking to create an illusion of remedy," he said. "Despite our repeated requests, Pakistan continues to deny India free and unimpeded access to Shri Jadhav. India has repeatedly asked to allow a lawyer from outside Pakistan to appear for Shri Jadhav in any review and reconsideration proceedings," Srivastava maintained.
"Since 2017, when Military Court carried out a farcical trial, Pakistan has refused to hand over any relevant document, including FIR, evidence, court order, etc in the case to India. Clearly, Pakistan is attempting to create a mirage of compliance with the ICJ judgment," MEA spokesman alleged.
"This is a Foundation....well orchestrated racket and from where donation has been pouring in; from the Home Ministry, from the Prime Minister's Relief Fund. You name the ministry, and they have received the money. ....I believe now the steps are being taken (the probe order) in the right direction," said Tom Vadakkan, who was till 2019 a key member of the Congress party and was considered close to the Sonia Gandhi-Rahul family.
New Delhi: Taking cognizance of reports on 'revelation' that Sonia Gandhi-headed Rajiv Gandhi Foundation got funding from the Chinese embassy and some other questionable sources, the central government on Wednesday ordered probe into the same seeking detailed investigation into violation of various legal provisions of law including 'foreign funding' and Income Tax Act.
A move that is bound to create political ripples, the Ministry of Home Affairs on Wednesday set up an inter-ministerial committee to coordinate investigations into violation of various legal provisions of Income Tax Act, Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA).
A Special Director of the Enforcement Directorate will head the official panel and will have members from the Home Ministry and various probe agencies.
Sources also said the probe will look into all aspects of funding and the functioning of the Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust and the Indira Gandhi Memorial Trust.
BJP leaders Meenakshi Lekhi and Gaurav Bhatia have welcomed the probe order.
Another BJP leader Tom Vadakkan told Times Now TV: "The issue is who are the propagandists who were funded by the Chinese government. I think the nation should know. This is walk-the-talk by the Government of India".
"This is a Foundation....well orchestrated racket and from where donation has been pouring in; from the Home Ministry, from the Prime Minister's Relief Fund. You name the ministry, and they have received the money. ....I believe now the steps are being taken (the probe order) in the right direction," said Vadakkam, who was till 2019 a key member of the Congress party and was considered close to the Sonia Gandhi-Rahul family.
Notably, BJP president J P Nadda had questioned a purported donation of $300,000 that the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation had received from People’s Republic of China and the Chinese embassy in 2005-06.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi is the chairperson of the RGF and its nine-member board includes senior Congress leaders like Manmohan Singh, Rahul Gandhi and also Priyanka Gandhi.
The BJP had alleged that the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation had received donations from the Chinese embassy in Delhi in 2005-06.
"Did the then UPA government take a bribe from the Chinese? Is it not true that after taking this donation, the foundation recommended a free trade agreement with China, which was heavily tilted in favour of the Chinese?" Union Law Minister and BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad had said after the news of such funding from the Chinese authorities were flashed.
The Congress had obvously claimed that the RGF issue raised by the BJP government was a "manufactured charge" and smacked of political vendetta.
The Congress also claimed that a sum of Rs 1.45 crore received by the RGF from the Embassy of China was used for the purpose of a welfare programme for differently-abled people and research on Sino-India relationships.
The Congress leaders' conduct after recent clashes between Indian and Chinese forces along the LAC at Galwan valley has only fuelled all speculation about Congress double standards vis-a-vis the relationship with China as the grand old party has failed to attack or criticise Beijing over the same.
The Congress leaders including Rahul Gandhi instead focused chiefly to attack Prime Minister Narendra Modi and thus failed to give a a national consensus on such a vital and sensitive matter of national security.
China’s name figures in the list of donors for Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Contemporary Studies (RGICS), a think tank promoted by RGF.
Among the many donors for RGICS are also the European Commission, Government of Ireland and United Nations Development Programme.
Naviraj Estates Private Limited, which has fugitive businessman Mehul Chinubhai Choksi as one of the directors of the company, also had funded Sonia Gandhi-led Foundation, sources said.
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