Foreign offices in New Delhi and Islamabad on Thursday engaged in a war of words over the issue of retired Indian Navy officer Kulbhushan Jadhav. While the official spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, Gopal Baglay, described him an "innocent Indian citizen," Pakistan's Foreign Office spokesman Nafees Zakaria said Jadhav's arrest had helped his country foil other terrorist activities. "It was on the basis of his confessional statement that terrorist networks were dismantled and led to the arrest of people aligned with him (Jadhav)," he said.
Declaring that India has no information on Jadhav's location in Pakistan or his condition, Baglay highlighted the dichotomy in Pakistan's approach, stating that the government received a letter from Islamabad offering conditional consular access to him, almost on the same day that his death sentence was made public. Pakistan has so far denied Indian requests for consular access to Jadhav 13 times.
But even as New Delhi said that it was in touch with Islamabad through the Indian High Commission on this important issue, the Pakistan Army brass has toughed its stance at a meeting in Rawalpindi, deciding that there would be "no compromise" on similar "anti-state acts." According to Pakistan media reports, the Corps Commanders' Conference presided by Army Chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa, was briefed about Jadhav's case and the Indian reaction.
On reports of Jadhav carrying a fake passport, Baglay said, "We cannot ascertain anything since we did not have any consular access. Which kind of spy keeps an original passport with him so I have my doubts on any allegation of his being a spy...We need to know how he came to be in Pakistan in the first place.
India has been maintaining that Jadhav, who had legal business interest in Iran, was kidnapped by Pakistan authorities. The trial of Jadhav was opaque and farcical, no due process was followed and all legal and international norms were defied, Baglay said.
In contrast, Pakistan's High Commissioner in India Abdul Basit refuted the allegation that Jadhav was kidnapped from the Iranian port. He said Jadhav was arrested on March 3, 2016, in a counter-intelligence operation in Balochistan's Mashkel area. When asked why was India not allowed consular access despite regulations under international law, Basit said that consular access is not "automatic," especially for matters that are "sensitive and related to security."
Meanwhile, Prof. Bhim Singh, Chairman of the India-Pak Joint Defence Committee for Prisoners is planning to file a writ petition through the legal aid committee in Islamabad before the Supreme Court of Pakistan against the sentence awarded by Field General Court Martial (FGCM) under the Pakistani Army Act. Singh on Thursday interacted with his Pakistani counterpart Zulfiqar Ali Jehangir, a Lahore based lawyer. A draft of a writ petitionwas was sent to him to be submitted in the apex court in Islamabad.
Lack of consular access violates treaty
Ironically, India and Pakistan had signed a bilateral agreement related to providing consular agreement to prisoners in 2008. While India insisted that the denial amounted to violating not only the bilateral agreement, but also international conventions, Pakistan's spokesman quoted Article VI of the 2008 bilateral agreement, stating that "in instances of security and political related matters the merit of the case would be considered." According to the Pakistan government, the request of consular access was turned down last year due to Jadhav's involvement in "subversive activities" in the country.
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