Minister Sushma Swaraj has asked Congress' Shashi Tharoor to draft a response to Pakistan (File photo)
Highlights
- Congress MP Shashi Tharoor is a former UN under-Secretary General
- He heads the Parliamentary Committee on External Affairs
- Last year, Dr Tharoor helped draft a statement against terrorist Lakhvi
In a tweet on Tuesday evening, Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj seemed to dismiss reports that she had asked Congress lawmaker Shashi Tharoor to help draft a resolution condemning Pakistan for giving the
death sentence to former Indian Navy officer Kulbhushan Jadhav.
"There is no dearth of talent in my ministry. I have the assistance of very able Secretaries," Ms Swaraj tweeted.
Sources had earlier in the day said the minister - who made a statement today in both houses
warning Pakistan over the death sentence - requested Mr Tharoor to help draft the resolution to be adopted in both houses.
"This is a matter that affects us all," Mr Tharoor told NDTV.
Last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had asked Mr Tharoor to draft a statement condemning Pakistan for freeing Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, a key plotter of the 2008 Mumbai terror attack.
The resolution drafted on Tuesday will condemn and seek to make a strong statement internationally against the death sentence given to Mr Jadhav by a Pakistani military court that convicted him of "espionage and sabotage activities" in Balochistan.
In Parliament, parties united today to condemn Pakistan. "There is no evidence of wrongdoing by (Kulbhushan) Jadhav. If anything, he is the victim of a plan that seeks to cast aspersions on India to deflect international attention from Pakistan's well-known record of sponsoring and supporting terrorism," Ms Swaraj said in her statement, warning Pakistan's government to "consider the consequences for our bilateral relationship if they proceed on this matter."
"Under these circumstances, we have no choice but to consider this sentence, if carried out, as an act of pre-meditated murder," the minister said, calling the Pakistani military court's charges against Mr Jadhav, 46, "concocted."
"The government and the people of India would view very seriously the possibility that an innocent Indian citizen is facing the death sentence in Pakistan without due process and in violation of basic norms of law, justice and international relations," Sushma Swaraj said.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh assured the Lok Sabha that the government will do everything possible to get justice for Mr Jadhav.