India demands consular access to Kulbhushan Jadhav, held for spying in Pak

India on Thursday demanded immediate consular access to Kulbhushan Jadhav, arrested in Balochistan in March, on charges of being an agent of the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW).

“We have seen conflicting media reports about this issue. This is a pattern we have seen in the past as well. Government has always maintained that Pakistan’s allegations against Jadhav, an Indian national and a former Indian Navy officer, were completely baseless,” ministry of external affairs spokesperson Vikas Swarup said.

Swarup said after more than nine months of keeping him “wrongfully and illegally in custody,” the Pakistani authorities have not found a “shred of evidence against him.”

“We demand immediate consular access to him in accordance with relevant international conventions and his earliest release from wrongful confinement,” he added.

Pakistan’s foreign policy chief Sartaj Aziz on Wednesday acknowledged there was no “conclusive evidence” against Jadhav. Speaking in the Senate or upper house of Parliament, Aziz said the “dossier on Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav contained mere statements”. Geo News quoted Aziz as saying, “It did not have any conclusive evidence.”

Aziz, who was briefing the Senate on relations with India, said further evidence regarding Jadhav’s role in Pakistan needs to be gathered. He also said Pakistan had provided the UN a dossier regarding RAW’s alleged activities in Pakistan.