Kulbhushan Jadhav Case: India's Charge d'affaires Gaurav Ahluwalia Meets Former Navy Officer

India's Charge d'affaires Gaurav Ahluwalia met Kulbhushan Jadhav on Monday after  formally accepting Pakistan’s offer for consular access. “We hope that Pakistan will ensure right atmosphere so that the meeting is free, fair, meaningful and effective in keeping with the letter and spirit of the ICJ's orders,” Indian government sources were quoted as saying by news agency ANI before the meeting. 

Islamabad on Sunday said that ‘in line with Vienna Convention on Consular relations’, the officials have decided to grant consular access to India. 

Jadhav was arrested in Pakistan’s restive province of Balochistan in 2016 and is accused of terrorism, spying, and fomenting trouble in the region. He was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court in 2017.

However, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) based in The Hague, Netherlands, directed Pakistan to stay his execution and allow him consular access, in a 15-1 decision on July 17.

On August 1, Pakistan Foreign Office said the retired Indian Navy officer on death row will be granted consular access the next day.

However, the meeting, which was scheduled for 3 pm on August 2, did not materialise amid differences between India and Pakistan on the terms of the consular access to Jadhav. Earlier, Faisal said Pakistan and India were in contact on the "issue of granting consular access" to Jadhav.

On July 17, the ICJ ordered Pakistan to undertake an "effective review and reconsideration" of the conviction and sentence of Jadhav and also to grant consular access to India without further delay. One of the conditions put by Pakistan reportedly was the presence of a Pakistani official when Jadhav is allowed to meet Indian officials as part of the consular access.

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India did not agree to the condition, making clear its position that the consular access must be "unimpeded" and should be in the light of the judgement by the ICJ. Pakistan claims that its security forces arrested Jadhav from the restive Balochistan province on March 3, 2016 after he reportedly entered from Iran. However, India maintains that Jadhav was kidnapped from Iran where he had business interests after retiring from the Navy.

HIGHLIGHTS

• India's Charge d'affaires Gaurav Ahluwalia met Kulbhushan Jadhav
• Jadhav was arrested in Pakistan’s restive province of Balochistan in 2016
• ICJ based in The Hague, Netherlands, directed Pakistan to allow Kulbhushan consular access