Consular access to Jadhav out of question, Pakistan tells Indian HC

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan ruled out on Wednesday any possibility of giving India consular access to Kulbhushan Jadhav, an Indian spy who was recently sentenced to death by a military court after being accused of espionage, Radio Pakistan reported.

Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua conveyed Islamabad’s clear message to Indian High Commissioner Gautam Bambawale, who called on her in the federal capital.

The Indian high commissioner repeated India’s demand for consular access to Jadhav. However, Janjua, pointing out the legal aspects of the case, said Jadhav was a serving Indian naval officer, who was involved in terrorist activities in Pakistan.

Jadhav, who was caught in Balochistan in 2016 and has confessed to fomenting terrorism in Pakistan – was handed down the death penalty in an unprecedented decision that instantly sparked a bitter diplomatic spat between the two countries.

Jadhav was arrested on March 3 last year during an operation in Mashkel area of Balochistan. A few weeks later, the army released his recorded confessional statement in which he admitted that he was working for the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), India’s primary foreign intelligence agency, to stoke unrest and instability in Pakistan.

In a six-minute video shown on the national media, Jadhav confessed that he had been assigned the task of creating unrest in Balochistan and Karachi, for which he had visited the country several times using a fake identity since 2003.

India denies Jadhav is a RAW agent but admits that he was a retired naval officer. Pakistan has already clarified that his sentence was in accordance with the law and that India stood totally exposed on the issue of terror financing and perpetrating subversive acts in the country.

Source: The Express Tribune