Pakistan refuses second consular access to Kulbhushan Jadhav

Pakistan on Thursday, September 12, refused to grant India another consular access to Kulbhushan Jadav, stating that there would be no second access to the jailed Indian national. Jadhav, a former naval officer who is charged with espionage, has been sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court.

In a news briefing on Thursday, Mohammad Faisal, spokesperson of Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Pakistan said, "There would be no second consular access to Kulbhushan Jadhav." Faisal refused to further elaborate on the statement.

After the direction of the International Court of Justice, Pakistan granted consular access to Jadhav on September 2. The International Court of Justice also ruled that Pakistan denied Jadhav his basic rights under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations and has asked the country to review the death sentence.

Jadhav was arrested on March 2016 and India was granted consular access for the first time in 2019. The Indian diplomat, Gaurav Ahluwalia met 49-year-old Jadhav in a jail in Rawalpindi. Even though Indian authorities resisted, Pakistani officials were present during the one-hour long meeting. Pakistan also recorded conversations to ensure transparency.

"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," Faisal had said, addressing the media.

The External Affairs Ministry said that Jadhav seemed to be under great stress when Ahluwalia met him.

"While we await a comprehensive report, it was clear that Shri Jadhav appeared to be under extreme pressure to parrot a false narrative to bolster Pakistan's untenable claims. We will decide a further course of action after receiving a detailed report from (Ahluwalia) and determining the extent of conformity to the ICJ directives," Raveesh Kumar, an external affairs ministry spokesperson told the media after Ahluwalia met him.

Jadhav was arrested by Pakistani security forces on March 3, 2016, in Balochistan, claiming that the naval officer had entered the country via Iran. However, Jadhav and India rubbished the allegations stating that Pakistan had kidnapped Jadhav while he was on a business trip in Iran.