Asaduddin Owaisi, head of All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen or All India Council of the Union of Muslims said the Indian government should have anticipated the death verdict handed out to Kulbhushan Jadhav, an ex-Indian Navy member, and moved in advance to exert pressure on the country.
“We all know that it is a banana court,” Owaisi said, referring to the military court in Pakistan. “The government should have know what kind of verdict was going to come.”
Owaisi, who has a reputation as a firebrand representative of ‘Muslim interests’ in India, also asked the Indian government to use its friends among international community to exert pressure on Pakistan and bring Jadhav home.
“You have so much influence, you have so much power, please use them,” Owaisi urged the government in the Lok Sabha today, adding that he does not want to do politics over the issue, but the government needs to do “everything it can” to save the life of the “Indian soldier.”
“It is the duty of the government to save his life… No effort must be spared to bring him home,” said Owaisi, who was in the news last year for calling Islamic State members ‘dogs of hell‘.
Other members, including Shashi Tharoor, also asked the government to use international bodies to exert pressure on Pakistan.
Jadhav is an ex-Indian Navy person and was engaged in a ‘small business’ in Iran, from where he used to conduct trips to Afghanistan. According to the Indian government, Jadhav was kidnapped by the Pakistani intelligence.
Home minister Rajnath Singh said the government of India will do whatever it can to ensure that Jadhav “gets justice”.
More details on the steps being taken will be briefed by the external affairs ministry at 12 pm today.