Didn’t get free access to Jadhav: India
NEW DELHI: A meeting between Indian officials and Kulbhushan Jadhav on Thursday ended inconclusively, with New Delhi accusing Islamabad of breaching its assurance of providing unimpeded access to the former naval officer sentenced to death in Pakistan for alleged involvement in espionage.
Pakistan provided consular access to Jadhav for only the second time since he was detained in March 2016. But when two Indian consular officials went to meet him, they found Pakistani officials with “an intimidating demeanour” near Jadhav and a camera being used to record the conversation, the ministry of external affairs (MEA) said.
The Indian officials met Jadhav to discuss filing a review petition in Islamabad high court against his death sentence by the deadline of July 20, and required privacy to talk about the matter.
“The consular officers could not engage Jadhav on his legal rights and were prevented from obtaining his written consent for arranging his legal representation,” MEA spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said.
“In the light of these circumstances, the Indian consular officers came to the conclusion that
the consular access being offered by Pakistan was neither meaningful nor credible. After lodging a protest, they left the venue.”
Srivastava said India had taken up Pakistan’s offer of consular access only after receiving an assurance regarding “unimpeded, unhindered and unconditional access”. Thursday’s developments added another twist to
the case of Jadhav, 50, as only four days remain under an ordinance promulgated by the Pakistan government to file a review petition in the Islamabad high court.
Srivastava said India made more than 12 requests for consular access to Jadhav over the past year.
“This consular access is of
utmost importance, as it is the basis for a process of effective review and reconsideration ordered by the International Court of Justice in July 2019 of the conviction and sentence of Jadhav by a Pakistani military tribunal,” he said.
The Pakistani ordinance envisages an Indian consular official filing the review petition.