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Pakistan offers 3rd consular access to Kulbhushan Jadhav
The offer was made by foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi while speaking to a TV news channel. He said the consular access could be provided as early as Friday or Saturday and Pakistan would agree to the terms set by the Indian side.
Pakistan on Friday again offered to provide consular access to Kulbhushan Jadhav, a day after Indian officials walked out of a meeting saying they weren’t given unhindered contact with the former Indian Navy officer sentenced to death for alleged involvement in spying.
The offer was made by foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi while speaking to a TV news channel. He said the consular access could be provided as early as Friday or Saturday and Pakistan would agree to the terms set by the Indian side.
There was no immediate response from the Indian side to the offer.
He also claimed the Indian side had engaged in a “drama” by walking out of Thursday’s meeting Jadhav. He contended the Indian officials were allowed to meet Jadhav without any glass partition between the two sides and without any recording of the meeting.
“Today, you are making the excuse that you want to meet him without any security personnel being present. Even that will be done,” Qureshi said, speaking in Urdu.
On Thursday, two Indian officials registered a protest and walked out of the planned meeting with Jadhav, and New Delhi accused Islamabad of breaching its assurance of providing unimpeded and unconditional access to the former naval officer.
Pakistan offered consular access to Jadhav for only the second time since he was detained in March 2016. But when the Indian officials went to meet him, they found Pakistani officials with “an intimidating demeanour” near Jadhav and a camera being used to record the conversation.
The Indian officials had gone to talk to Jadhav about filing a review petition in Islamabad high court against his death sentence by the deadline of July 20, but were prevented from obtaining his written consent for arranging his legal representation, external affairs ministry spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said.
Qureshi, however, contended that despite being offering all concessions, the Indian officials left without hearing Jadhav. “India’s ill intentions have come to light. They didn’t want consular access. [Jhadav] kept asking the Indian diplomats to talk to him and they left,” he said.
Foreign Office spokesperson Aisha Farooqui reiterated Pakistan’s offer to India to file an appeal in the Islamabad high court against Jadhav’s death sentence. “It is hoped that India will cooperate with the Pakistan court in giving full effect to the [International Court of Justice’s] judgement,” she said.
In a separate development, Qureshi said he had recovered from Covid-19 and resumed his duties. He paid tribute to healthcare and frontline workers for being Pakistan’s “backbone in the fight against this pandemic with unyielding commitment and dedication”.
