As tension grows, India calls off maritime talks with Pakistan

A DELEGATION LED BY PAKISTAN’S MARITIME SECURITY AGENCY WAS SCHEDULED TO ARRIVE IN NEW DELHI ON APRIL 16 FOR FOUR DAYS

NEW DELHI: India called off the forthcoming maritime security dialogue with Pakistan as tension between the two countries continues to grow over the death sentence to former Indian Navy officer Kulbhushan Jadhav.

A delegation led by Pakistan’s Maritime Security Agency was scheduled to arrive in New Delhi on April 16 for four days for a dialogie with their Indian coast guard counterparts.

The dialogue is a routine exercise between the two agencies since 2005 and the two sides discuss issues related to exchange of information and strategy to combat marine pollution and trafficking.

“The meeting stands called off after the defence ministry denied permission for the event,” said a source.

The move comes a day after Pakistan denied consular access to Jadhav for the 14th time.

New Delhi had sought a copy of the chargesheet filed against Jadhav and the death sentence handed out to him on Friday.

A Pakistani military court handed death sentence to Jadhav on charges of espionage and sabotage, but New Delhi maintains its national is innocent and was kidnapped and framed.

Meanwhile, the Lahore High Court Bar Association on Friday said it would take action against any lawyer who offered to defend Jadhav.

“The association has unanimously decided to cancel the membership of any lawyer who offers his services to Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav,” the organisation’s secretary general Amer Saeed Raan said.

New Delhi has maintained that it will treat Jadhav’s sentencing as “pre-meditated” murder if Islamabad goes ahead with the execution.