Kulbhushan Jadhav was ”arrested” on March 3 last year by Pakistani security officials in Balochistan.

Islamabad, April 12

Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa said that they would “not come under any pressure” over executing former Indian naval officer Kulbhushan Jadhav, who has been sentenced to death for espionage, a media report said on Wednesday.

Chief of Army Staff General Bajwa met Sharif over the latest diplomatic flare up between India and Pakistan, amaa TV reported.

“They agreed not to come under any pressure” on the issue of Jadhav, the channel said, but gave no other details.

The two are also believed to have discussed Pakistan Army’s military preparedness and reviewed security, as well as discuss the situation prevailing at the border, Radio Pakistan reported.

This is the first meeting between the two since Bajwa took over as head of the army earlier this year.

The meeting comes days after the army chief sanctioned Jadhav’s execution after a military court held him guilty of spying, charges he, and India, deny.

The decision has sparked spark reaction from India and its leadership. In a statement issued in Parliament on Tuesday, Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj warned Pakistan that it should consider consequences of executing Jadhav and that India would take the execution of an “innocent Indian” as a “pre-meditated murder”.

India claims Jadhav was abducted and taken to Pakistan while he was in Iran, adding that the charges against him were concocted and the trial was “farcical”, leading to an “indefensible verdict”. PTI