In Frame : Kulbhushan Jadhav; Source: Wikipedia

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On March 25 2016, Indians and Pakistanis woke up to the sensational news of an Indian spy getting arrested in Pakistan. But who was this spy, who has managed to bitter the already strained relationship between these two nations?

Kulbhushan Sudhir Jadhav was born in Sangli to a family of police officers. He joined NDA and was soon commissioned in the Indian Navy. He quickly rose to the ranks and became a Commander. Kulbhushan was married with 2 kids but life changed after the 2001 Parliament attacks.

He voluntarily retired from the Navy and established a small business in Chabahar, Iran. According to Pakistan he thereon started gathering information and even visited Karachi in 2003 and 2004, which went unnoticed before being finally picked by RAW in 2013.

His major task was strengthening separatist movements in Karachi and Balochistan, by providing them with funds and training them to launch terrorist attacks and disrupt peace in the country. Kulbhushan was constantly in touch with the separatist leaders and when he was trying to enter Pakistan through the Saravan border of Iran he was arrested in counter-terrorism raids by the border security forces. They found a fake passport in which he identified as Hussain Mubarak Patel along with a valid visa from Iran. It is said that the ISI was monitoring him and his calls to his family in Marathi blew his cover.

India has strongly refuted these claims; stating that he was a former Navy officer now retired and was kidnapped from Iran by Pakistani officials after which they even made up fake documents. A few days later a video of Kulbhushan Jadhav was released wherein he admits to all the charges of espionage and seeks mercy. India called the video fabricated and demanded consular access which was guaranteed according to the Vienna conventions.

Pakistan kept on denying access and meanwhile a Martial court declared a death sentence for Kulbhushan on 10th April. India directly went to the International Court of Justice and warned Pakistan that it will consider sentencing Kulbhushan Jadhav to death as murder.

ICJ mediated and stopped the death sentence till further proceedings. India's permission of consular access was denied for the 18th time by now. 

> Meanwhile, another drama was unfolding as Pakistan accused India of kidnapping Lt. Col. (Retd) Habib Zahir a former ISI operative carrying out anti-India activities from Nepal. According to them, India is pressurising an exchange in return for Kulbhushan.

In a show of goodwill, Pakistan granted access to Kulbhushan's mother and wife, but this led to further deterioration of the situation as the mother and wife were allegedly harassed and there were several restrictions imposed including the use of language.

![Kulbhushan Jadhav meeting his mother and wife; Sources: Hindustan Times](/uploads/Untitled_19_98e9d65ef1.png)

Finally, on 17 July 2019 ICJ gave its verdict, it stayed the death sentence of Kulbhushan Jadhav and directed Pakistan to give consular access to India. Meanwhile, it also rejected India's plea of granting custody of Kulbhushan and his safe passage to India.

Media outlets of both nations covered the verdict as a victory of their own. Meanwhile, Kulbhushan Jadhav is still surviving in Pakistani jails, hanging on to his life which depends on the whims and fancies of the political leaders, that will either turn him into Abhinandan or Sarabjit.

Kulbhushan Sudhir Jadhav is an Indian national. It is alleged by the Pakistani government that he was arrested in the Pakistani province of Balochistan on charges of terrorism and spying for India's intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing.

Civilian or Spy?

Contemporary

Birth

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