India has not responded to queries on Kulbhushan Jadhav’s passport, service: Pakistan

Pakistan foreign office spokesperson said it was regrettable that India had so far not given any reply on Kulbhushan Jadhav’s passport or any details of his retirement from Indian Navy.

Pakistan on Friday said India has not responded to its queries on Indian death-row prisoner Kulbhushan Jadhav’s passport and details of his service, calling it “regrettable”.

Former Indian navy officer Kulbhushan Sudhir Jadhav is seen on a screen during a news conference at the ministry of Pakistan Foreign Affairs in Islamabad on December 25, 2017. (Reuters File Photo)

Foreign office spokesperson Dr Mohammad Faisal said that Pakistan arrested “serving Indian Naval Commander Kulbhushan Jadhav”, who confessed to his involvement in numerous terrorist incidents in Pakistan.

“It is regrettable that India has so far not given us any reply on how commander Kulbhushan Jadhav was in possession of the passport of Hussain Mubarak Patel, or any details of his retirement from Indian Navy,” he said.

Jadhav, 47, was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court in April on charges of espionage and terrorism.

The International Court of Justice in May had halted his execution on India’s appeal.

Pakistan claims its security forces arrested him from restive Balochistan province on March 3 in 2016 after he reportedly entered from Iran. However, India maintains that Jadhav was kidnapped from Iran where he had business interests after retiring from the Indian Navy.

To another question, Faisal confirmed that a Pakistan delegation visited India for talks regarding intelligence and counter-terrorism but added that “it was not a bilateral meeting between Pakistan and India, but was held under the ambit of Regional Anti-Terrorism Structure (RATS), counter- terrorism cooperation mechanism under SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organisation)”.