Pak To Provide India Consular Access To Kulbhushan Jadhav Tomorrow

Kulbhushan Jadhav was sentenced to death by a military court in Pakistan.

New Delhi:

Pakistan today said they would provide Consular access for Kulbhushan Jadhav, a former naval officer who has been sentenced to death by a court alleged for “espionage and terrorism”. A tweet from Pakistan’s foreign office said India will be given consular access to him on Monday “in line with Vienna Convention on Consular relations, ICJ judgement & the laws of Pakistan”.

This is the first time that 49 – year-old Kulbhushan Jadhav – sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court in April 2017 – will be given consular access.

After repeated requests to Islamabad, India flagged the matter to the International Court of Justice in the Hague, which was also hearing New Delhi’s appeal for the cancellation of his death sentence.

India maintains Mr Jadhav is a retired Naval officer, who was abducted from Iran, where he was running a business. In one of the earlier hearings, The court asked Pakistan to hold off his execution till it reaches its final verdict in the case.

In July, the International Court ordered Pakistan to review and reconsider the conviction and sentence of Mr Jadhav and also to grant consular access to India without further delay.

The court agreed with India’s stand that Pakistan had violated the Vienna convention by denying consular access to Mr Jadhav after his conviction in a “farcical” closed trial.

Last month, the Pakistan Foreign Office said Mr Jadhav will be granted consular access the next day. But the meeting did not take place after New Delhi and Islamabad disagreed on the terms.

Pakistan wanted one of its officials to be present when Mr Jadhav meets the Indian officials.

But India rejected the idea, reiterating its stance that consular access must be “unimpeded” and should be in the light of the judgment by the International Court of Justice.

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