Pakistan again rejects consular access to Jadhav

ISLAMABAD – Pakistan on Sunday asked India not to equate Kulbhushan Jadhav – a convicted terrorist – with civilian prisoners and fishermen as Islamabad rejected New Delhi’s plea to allow consular access to the Indian spy.

In a statement, the foreign ministry said counting Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav in the list of civil prisoners and fishermen was a “travesty of logic”.

Over the weekend, New Delhi sought consular access to Kulbhushan Jadhav – sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court for fomenting terrorism in Pakistan.

This was the second time India had demanded access. Pakistan had denied the first request too.

The nuclear-armed neighbours earlier exchanged lists of prisoners in each other’s custody.

The lists were exchanged in line with the consular access agreement between the two countries through diplomatic channels.

In a statement, foreign office spokesperson Nafees Zakaria said: “The Indian attempt to equate Commander Jhadav’s case with civilian prisoners and fishermen is a travesty of logic. Commander Jhadav is a serving Indian Naval officer and sent to Pakistan by its intelligence agency RAW [Research and Analysis Wing] for espionage, terrorism and subversive activities, which resulted in loss of many innocent lives and damage to property.”

He added: “Pakistan has implemented the bilateral consular agreement in letter and spirit and is committed to ensuring that humanitarian cases are not held hostage to politics. We expect India to reciprocate through action rather than rhetoric.”

The spokesperson said that Pakistan was committed to the implementation of the 2008 agreement on consular access between Pakistan and India, which stipulated the exchange of comprehensive lists of nationals of each country in the other country’s jails twice a year on January 1 and July 1.

“These lists were exchanged on July 1,” he added.

The spokesperson said that five Indian nationals who had completed their sentence were repatriated on June 22, 2017.

“In contrast, 20 Pakistani civilian prisoners who have completed their sentence still await repatriation, while consular access to 107 Pakistani fishermen and 85 civilian Pakistani prisoners is also pending,” Zakaria pointed out.

Additionally, he said, two juvenile Pakistanis Ali Raza and Babar Ali, who inadvertently crossed the border in July 2016, were repatriated after a year’s delay on June 5, 2017 despite orders of the Indian courts for their release.

The spokesperson said Indian humanitarian claims appeared contrary to reality in view of the impossible conditionalities imposed for medical visas for Pakistani patients.

“Under the directive of the Prime Minister [Nawaz Sharif], arrangements are being made for such treatments/operations to be carried out in Pakistan,” he said.

Jadhav was arrested on March 3rd last year in a counter-intelligence operation in Mashkel area of Balochistan.

Later, he told the investigators that he was a serving member of the RAW and over the years was involved in terrorism-related incidents in Pakistan.

Jadhav, in a six-minute video, confessed he was tasked to create unrest in Balochistan and Karachi.

India admits Jadhav was a retired naval officer but denies he was a RAW agent.

Last month, the military released a second confessional video where Jadhav expressed remorse that he had killed many civilians in the terrorist acts.

He also filed a mercy petition to army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa, to spare his life on “compassionate grounds”.

Jadhav can still file another appeal to President Mamnoon Hussain if the army chief rejects his plea.

After the military court sentenced him to death in April this year, India approached the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in May seeking to stop Pakistan from executing Jadhav.

The ICJ ordered Pakistan to stay the execution until a final verdict.

Pakistan-India tension has been running high since last July after the killing of freedom fighter Burhan Wani.

The Indian forces later killed dozens of protesters who condemned the murder.

In September, tensions rose further when New Delhi blamed Pakistan for the Uri attack, which inflicted the heaviest toll on the Indian Army in a single incident in 14 years.

Nineteen soldiers were killed in the strike. Pakistan denied any link.

Source: The Nation