Pak offers consular access to Kulbhushan Jadhav, India says reviewing proposal

The Pakistan foreign ministry had earlier said that Islamabad will grant consular access to Jadhav “according to Pakistani laws”, for which modalities were being worked out.

By: Express Web Desk

New Delhi | Updated: August 1, 2019 05:31 PM IST

4 min read

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Kulbhushan Jadhav, a former Indian Navy officer, was sentenced to death on charges of ‘espionage and terrorism’ by a Pakistan military court. (File)

Pakistan has offered consular access to former Indian Navy officer Kulbhushan Jadhav, who is sentenced to death on espionage charges, on Friday. The development comes two weeks after the International Court of Justice ruled in favour of India on the issue of consular access.

Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said India is evaluating the proposal by Pakistan in the light of the ICJ verdict. “We will maintain communication with Pakistan in this matter through diplomatic channels,” he told reporters. The Pakistan foreign ministry had earlier said that Islamabad will grant consular access to Jadhav “according to Pakistani laws”.

India has argued that Article 36 Paragraph 1(a) of the Vienna Convention says that “consular officers shall be free to communicate with nationals of the sending State and to have access to them. Nationals of the sending State shall have the same freedom…to communication with and access to consular officers of the sending State.” India is the sending State in this case.

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Last week, the countries discussed the modalities of granting consular access to Jadhav. Among the key issues under discussion, sources said, were how many Indian officials will conduct Jadhav’s interview, duration of their meeting, whether Pakistani officials will be present besides security personnel, whether there will be a glass partition between them, and whether they will be allowed to have physical contact.

Since his imprisonment, Jadhav was allowed to meet his mother and wife only once at the Pakistan foreign office on December 25, 2017. In the meeting, which lasted for close to 35 minutes, Jadhav spoke to his family through an intercom as a glass screen separated them. India had then downplayed Islamabad’s claims that it had granted consular access to Jadhav, arguing that allowing an Indian official to be present at the meeting doesn’t construe as consular access.

On July 17, this year, the International Court of Justice ruled in favour of India and directed Pakistan to provide consular access to Jadhav in accordance with the Vienna Convention. It also suspended the death sentence granted to Jadhav on charges of “espionage and terrorism” by a Pakistan military court. The court, however, rejected India’s call to annul the military court decision and ensure his release and safe passage home. This means that Jadhav will not be free in the immediate term and the ball is in Pakistan’s court to decide his fate.

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Jadhav was arrested allegedly on March 3, 2016, and India was informed of this on March 25, 2016, when the Pakistan Foreign Secretary raised the matter with the Indian High Commissioner in Islamabad. On that day, India sought consular access to Jadhav at the earliest. New Delhi then moved the ICJ in May in 2017 against the “farcical trial” by the military court of Pakistan against 48-year-old Jadhav. He was sentenced to death on charges of espionage and terrorism in April 2017.

India had first approached the ICJ on May 8, 2017, for the “violation” of the provisions of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, 1963 by Pakistan by repeatedly denying it consular access to Jadhav.

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