New Delhi: India said on Thursday that it is engaged in efforts to bring back an alleged Indian spy sentenced to death in Pakistan, who it reiterated is innocent of the charges hurled at him.

External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Gopal Baglay, fielding a slew of questions, also said India has no knowledge of where Kulbhudhan Jadhav has been kept in Pakistan or his condition due to Islamabad’s refusal to provide consular access to him.

“We are engaged in the efforts (for his release) ... I won’t like to speculate on the steps about the future at this stage, or who we will talk to and who will not talk to,” he said.

Jadhav, a former Indian naval officer, has been sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court for espionage and waging war against Pakistan. India has warned that if Pakistan executes Jadhav, who was arrested in March 2016, it would amount to “premeditated murder”.

Asked if the government had any information about Jadhav, the official said New Delhi was not aware.

“We have no information and the Pakistan government has also not shared with us his location and how and where he is held and what his condition is,” Baglay told the media.

He reiterated that there was no credibility to Jadhav’s secret military trial and described as “baseless” the charges of espionage and waging war against Islamabad levelled against him.

He said India had made 13 requests to Pakistan till April 10 for consular access to Jadhav, but Islamabad denied each of them.

Baglay reiterated that it would be considered “premeditated murder if the indefensible sentence is carried out”.

He trashed the secret trial by the Pakistani military court as “completely opaque”. “There is no credibility in the trial.”

Baglay said that not giving consular access to Jadhav “itself exposes the hollowness of the charges”.

“In the light of all this, we have said clearly that the proceedings against Jadhav are farcical. The verdict is indefensible. No due process has been followed. It is a violation of the basic normal of international relations and justice,” he added.

Asked whether the sentence could be linked to the disappearance of a retired Pakistani military officer — Lt Col Habib Zahir — in Lumbini, Nepal, Baglay said he had “no information” about the case.

Baglay also said that Jadhav was “legally doing business” in Iran’s Chabahar port and the issue has been discussed with Tehran.

“We have discussed the issue with Iran. He was legally doing business there,” he said, adding that he had no information about the progress of investigations.

Asked about Jadhav possessing a fake passport under an assumed name, of Hussain Mubarak Patel, Baglay said that they had not seen the passport.

Meanwhile, Pakistan’s top military Generals on Thursday decided not to make any “compromise” on the death sentence given to Jadhav.

The decision was made at a Corps Commanders meeting presided over by Army Chief General Qamar Bajwa at the General Headquarters in Rawalpindi, the military’s media wing Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a statement.

The Generals were briefed about Jadhav and it was concluded that “no compromise shall be made on such anti-state acts”, the statement said.

Pakistan claims its security forces had arrested Jadhav from the restive Balochistan province on March 3 last year after he reportedly entered from Iran. It also claimed he was “a serving officer in the Indian Navy.”

The Pakistan Army had also released a “confessional video” of Jadhav after his arrest.

India had acknowledged that Jadhav had served with the navy, but denied that he has any connection with the government.

The incident is expected to further deteriorate already strained India-Pakistan ties which were hit after deadly attacks in Pathankot and Uri by Pakistan-based terrorists last year.

— Agencies