Alleged RAW agent caught in Pakistan is a veteran, have requested all help possible for him: Parrikar

QUEPEM: The defence ministry has requested all possible help and support for alleged RAW agent, Commander Kulbhushan Jadhav (retd) who has been arrested by Pakistan on suspicion of spying in Balochistan. Without commenting on the arrest and allegations of spying, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said that he has asked the foreign affairs ministry to give `all the support and assistance required’ as the arrested person is a veteran.

“We have told them (MEA) that he is a veteran and he should be fully backed up and assisted. They are doing their very best,” the minister said at the Defence Expo being held in Goa, adding that consular access has been asked for by India.


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Refusing to comment on the address, the minister said that the only assistance requested is on Jadhav being a veteran. “Other than paying him One Rank One Pension I cannot talk about anything on an ex officer,” Parrikar said.

Jadhav, a 1991 commissioned Naval officer, was arrested earlier this month by Pakistan authorities on charges that he was involved in interactions with Baloch rebels. The allegation was that the officer, who retired in 2013, was an active RAW agent.

India however has denied that Jadhav was working for any government agency since his retirement from the navy in 2013. The retired officer was working at the Iranian Chabahar port when he was arrested. Pakistan has alleged that he was working on a fake passport.

Within the Navy, there is barely a murmur on the arrest of the retired officer. Officers who would have been contemporaries refuse to discuss the matter and officially, the Navy is holding on to its position that the officer retired and was running his own business when he was picked up.

Sources within the government suggest that the retired officer may even have been picked up in Iran – kidnapped and taken across the border. Several officials ET spoke with said that the possibility of a grab and run by Pakistani intel agencies working on the Pak-Iran border is a high probability. Senior intelligence officials rarely go into Pakistan for active intel gathering, sources said.