Pakistan takes hard line on Kulbhushan Jadhav: No plan for consular access again

India responded cautiously, with Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar saying they will continue to try for “full implementation of ICJ judgement”. He said they are in touch with Pakistan through diplomatic channels.

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Pakistan has accused Jadhav, a former Indian Navy officer, of espionage. (File)

Ten days after Pakistan granted India consular access to Kulbhushan Jadhav for the first time since he was detained in 2016, it said that there was no plan to permit such a meeting again.

On September 2, India’s Acting High Commissioner in Islamabad Gaurav Ahluwalia met Jadhav, the Indian national sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court, in the presence of Pakistani officials following a ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

On Thursday, responding to a question on granting consular access to Jadhav again, Pakistan Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mohammad Faisal said: “There is no other meeting planned.”

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India responded cautiously, with Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar saying they will continue to try for “full implementation of ICJ judgement”. He said they are in touch with Pakistan through diplomatic channels.

Explained

ICJ box and J&K shadow

The granting of consular access was an obligation under the International Court of Justice’s ruling. Now that it has been adhered to once, Islamabad has hardened its position in the wake of the strained relationship with India over the J&K situation.

According to Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry, the first consular access meeting was recorded, but there was no restriction on the language of conversation between Jadhav and Ahluwalia. In December 2017, when Jadhav’s mother and wife had met him in Islamabad, they were prevented by Pakistani officials from speaking in Marathi, their mother tongue.

After the meeting on September 2, New Delhi had said that Jadhav appeared to be under “extreme pressure” to support Islamabad’s “false narrative” in his case.

Explained: India vs Pakistan at the United Nations, since 2014

Pakistan has accused Jadhav, a former Indian Navy officer, of espionage while India has maintained that he was running a business in Iran from where he was abducted and illegally taken to Pakistan.

Shubhajit Roy

Shubhajit Roy, Diplomatic Editor at The Indian Express, has been a journalist for more than 25 years now. Roy joined The Indian Express in October 2003 and has been reporting on foreign affairs for more than 17 years now. Based in Delhi, he has also led the National government and political bureau at The Indian Express in Delhi — a team of reporters who cover the national government and politics for the newspaper. He has got the Ramnath Goenka Journalism award for Excellence in Journalism ‘2016. He got this award for his coverage of the Holey Bakery attack in Dhaka and its aftermath. He also got the IIMCAA Award for the Journalist of the Year, 2022, (Jury’s special mention) for his coverage of the fall of Kabul in August 2021 — he was one of the few Indian journalists in Kabul and the only mainstream newspaper to have covered the Taliban’s capture of power in mid-August, 2021. ... Read More

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