New Delhi: India Thursday said it is yet to “assess” the situation even as Pakistan stated that it granted India second consular access to Kulbhushan Jadhav, who is serving a death sentence there. Two Indian High Commission officials in Islamabad met Jadhav Thursday.
India had been seeking “unrestricted and unimpeded” consular access to Jadhav since September last year.
“India has been requesting for an unimpeded, unhindered and unconditional consular access to Kulbushan Jadhav. On the basis of assurances provided our officials have proceeded for the meeting today. We will assess the situation after our officials return and provide a report,” Anurag Srivastava, spokesperson, Ministry of External Affairs, said at a media briefing.
Deputy High Commissioner Gaurav Ahluwalia and another official from the mission met Jadhav at a sub-jail at an undisclosed location Thursday.
According to sources, the meeting between Jadhav and Indian officials went on for more than three hours, while it could not be ascertained what condition he was in.
Last year, when Indian officials met him after consular access was granted for the first time, the Ministry of External Affairs had stated that Jadhav was under “extreme pressure” to parrot a false narrative.
The consular access Thursday came after India made a fresh appeal to Pakistan for a second consular access, which would be “unimpeded and unrestricted” since Jadhav has a deadline to meet to file a review petition of his death sentence.
Jadhav, a retired Indian Navy officer, was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court on charges of espionage and terrorism in April 2017. Subsequently, India had filed a case before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at The Hague in May 2017 to get consular access to Jadhav.
The ICJ verdict in July last year stayed Jadhav’s execution and Pakistan was asked to grant consular access to him.
India has to meet the 19 July deadline to file the review petition of Jadhav’s death sentence by responding to an ordinance, failing which Jadhav will have to rely on the mercy petition he had filed before Pakistan Army Chief Qamar Bajwa in June 2017 after his death sentence was pronounced.
‘Unimpeded and uninterrupted’ consular access given: Pakistan
Meanwhile, the Pakistan foreign ministry said it granted “unimpeded and uninterrupted consular access” to officials of the high commission upon India’s request.
Pakistan said it gave the first consular access on 2 September 2019 under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations (VCCR) 1963.
Jadhav’s mother and wife had earlier met him on 25 December, 2017.
“Commander Jadhav is in Pakistan’s custody following his arrest from Balochistan in a counter-intelligence operation on 3 March 2016. During investigation, Commander Jadhav confessed to his involvement in terrorist activities inside Pakistan that resulted in loss of many precious human lives. He also made important revelations about RAW’s role in sponsoring state terrorism in Pakistan,” Pakistan said in a statement.
It added, “Pakistan remains committed to fully implementing the International Court of Justice (ICJ)’s judgment of 17 July 2019. It is hoped that India will cooperate with the Pakistan court in giving full effect to the said judgement.”
Also read: India sees ‘conspiracy’ in Pakistan move to grant second consular access to Kulbhushan Jadhav