Jadhav denied consular access

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Sunday denied India consular access to Kulbhushan Jadhav, with its foreign office claiming that it was a “travesty of logic” to link his case to that of “common prisoners”.

The previous day, the two countries exchanged lists of prisoners in each other’s custody and New Delhi requested that it be provided consular access to Jadhav, an Indian national that Islamabad accuses of spying for intelligence agency RAW.

The external affairs ministry also released a statement saying that Pakistan is working to implement a two-way agreement and will implement the consular access agreement “in its true essence”.

However, the Pakistan foreign office rejected the ministry’s statement and said India was “suppressing facts” by calling Jadhav a civilian prisoner.

A statement released by the foreign office claimed RAW sent Jadhav to Pakistan “to disrupt the country’s peace”, and that he had “confessed to his crimes”.

“Jadhav’s activities have affected the lives of many Pakistanis,” the statement read.

Foreign office spokesperson Nafees Zakaria, terming the Indian attempt to equate Jadhav’s case with civilian prisoners “a travesty of logic”, said: “Commander Jadhav is a serving Indian naval officer and sent to Pakistan by its intelligence agency for espionage, terrorism and subversive activities which resulted in loss of many innocent lives and damage to property.”