External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has denied media reports that she sought Congress leader Shashi Tharoor’s assistance in drafting a Parliament resolution condemning Pakistan for awarding death sentence to former Indian Navy officer Kulbhushan Jadahav.
“There is no dearth of talent in my ministry. I have the assistance of very able Secretaries,” Sushma Swaraj tweeted.
In another tweet, the External affairs Minister said that the news in this regard was “completely false and mischievous”.
“The news was completely false and mischievously planted in the media,” she added.
Earlier, some media reports had suggested that Sushma Swaraj requested Shashi Tharoor to help her in drafting a resolution on this issue to be adopted in both houses of Parliament.
On Tuesday, Sushma Swaraj told the Parliament that if Pakistan carries out the death sentence against Kulbhushan Jadhav then it will be considered an act of “pre-meditated murder”.
“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," Sushma Swaraj said in her statement.
"Under these circumstances, we have no choice but to consider this sentence, if carried out, as an act of pre-meditated murder," she added.
Sushma also advised Pakistan to consider the consequences for the bilateral relationship between the two countries before proceeding in this matter.
"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," she added.
Jadhav was on Monday awarded death sentence by a Pakistani military court on charges of being an undercover RAW agent.
