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Pakistan says meeting with Jadhav was recorded, held in presence of officials
Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said it will decide further course of action after receiving a detailed report from India’s Deputy High Commissioner Gaurav Ahluwalia and determining the extent of conformity to the ICJ directives.
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Pakistan on Monday said India’s Deputy High Commissioner Gaurav Ahluwalia’s meeting with Kulbhushan Jadhav took place in the presence of its officials and was recorded even though India had asked for “effective and unhindered” consular access to him.
Pakistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the meeting lasted two hours.
“Consular access was provided at 1200 hours and lasted for two hours in the presence of officials of Government of Pakistan. On Indian request, there was no restriction on the language of communication. In order to ensure transparency and in line with standard operating procedures, and as conveyed to the Indian side in advance, the access was recorded,” Pakistan MoFA said in a statement.
Earlier, India had said that Jadhav, a former Naval officer, appeared to be “under extreme pressure to parrot a false narrative to bolster Pakistan’s untenable claims”.
Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said it will decide further course of action after receiving a detailed report from Ahluwalia and determining the extent of conformity to the ICJ directives.
The meeting took place in the light of International Court of Justice judgement which had asked Pakistan to provide Indian consular officers access to Jadhav.
Pakistan had announced in April 2017 that Jadhav had been given death sentence by a military court. India had subsequently moved the ICJ.
India has rejected Pakistan’s allegations about Jadhav’s involvement in spying and subversive activities and said he was kidnapped by from Iranian port of Chabahar where he was running a business.
Pakistan first offered access on August 2 but India had insisted that the consular access should be “unimpeded”.
Kumar had said on Thursday that two sides were in touch through diplomatic channels and India had sought “immediate, effective and unhindered”.
In a major diplomatic victory for India, the ICJ, in July, had asked Pakistan to comply with the Vienna Conventions and provide consular access to Jadhav and to ensure “effective review and reconsideration of his conviction and sentences”.
(This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.)
