Kulbhushan Jadhav Case: India Rejects Pakistan's Offer To Provide Consular Access With Conditions

One of the conditions reportedly was the presence of a Pakistani official when the Indian prisoner is allowed to meet Indian officials as part of the consular access.

Pakistan sent India a proposal offering consular access to Jadhav. (Getty images)

New Delhi: India on Friday asked Pakistan to provide "unimpeded" consular access to Kulbhushan Jadhav. India said that consular access should be given in an environment free from the "fear of intimidation" and reprisal, in sync with the ruling by the International Court of Justice in his case. On Thursday, Pakistan had sent India a proposal offering consular access to Jadhav. Later, India sent a communication to Pakistan making clear its position that the consular access must be "unimpeded" and should be in the light of the judgement by the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

India rejects the @ForeignOfficePk offer to provide consular access for #KulbhushanJadhav with conditions. In a letter sent last night,Pak aksed to provide unimpeded consular access in an environment free from the fear of intimidation & reprisal,in the light of @CIJ_ICJ verdict. pic.twitter.com/ZiuPzM8wxA

— Pranay Upadhyaya (@JournoPranay) August 2, 2019

Official sources said Pakistan's response to India's communication is now awaited. Earlier, External Affairs Ministry on Thursday said it was evaluating Pakistan's offer of granting consular access to Jadhav in the ICJ judgement in the case. There were reports that Pakistan had put some conditions to grant consular access to Jadhav. One of the conditions reportedly was the presence of a Pakistani official when the Indian prisoner is allowed to meet Indian officials as part of the consular access. Last week, Pakistan’s Foreign Office had announced that work in the direction to provide Jadhav access to a consul has been started. International Court of Justice in Hague in its ruling ordered Islamabad to make an effective review and consideration of Jadhav’s conviction and death sentence given by its military court. In its 42-page order, the court, while rejecting Pakistan's objection to admissibility of the Indian application in the case, held that "a continued stay of execution constitutes an indispensable condition for the effective review" of the sentence of Jadhav. The bench, however, rejected some remedies sought by India, including annulment of the military court's decision convicting Jadhav, his release and safe passage to India. (agency inputs) ALSO WATCH:  Imran Khan hails ICJ ruling on not releasing Jadhav