ISLAMABAD/NEW DELHI: India rejected Pakistan’s account of Jadhav’s activities and summoned Pakistan’s high commissioner.

India’s Ministry of External Affairs described the proceedings leading to the sentence as “farcical” and said no credible evidence had been presented against Jadhav.

In a statement, India also said that Jadhav had been kidnapped in Iran and “his subsequent presence in Pakistan has never been explained credibly”. It said he had been denied access to Indian consular officials despite repeated requests.

“If this sentence against an Indian citizen, awarded without observing basic norms of law and justice, is carried out, the government and people of India will regard it as a case of premeditated murder,” it said.

Pakistani authorities did not say when the sentence would be carried out. Diplomatic manoeuvring, lengthy legal proceedings and the possibility of appeal could mean the case would be contested for years, an analyst said.

“Very often, they keep these guys on death row for years, if not decades, as bargaining chips,” said Ajai Sahni, executive director at the Institute for Conflict Management in New Delhi.

Sahni said there was “going to be a lot of posturing by both sides” but he doubted it would lead to any direct military action.

According to Pakistani authorities, Yadav told judges last year that he was a naval officer who had started doing work for Indian intelligence following a 2001 attack on parliament that India blamed on militants backed by Pakistan.

The External Affairs Ministry issued a statement dismissing Yadav’s trial as a farce and saying Pakistan had ignored 13 separate requests in the past year to be permitted to offer him consular services.

The ministry statement said that Yadav was kidnapped last year from Iran and his subsequent presence in Pakistan was never explained credibly.—Reuters