The Indian Government has made a fresh attempt to seek consular access to ex-Indian Navy officer Kulbhushan Sudhir Jadhav, currently in custody of the Pakistan Army, even as it explored legal ways to challenge the death sentence awarded to him following a court martial. This is the 14th request by India seeking diplomatic access to Jadhav since March 2016 when he was kidnapped by Pakistani authorities for alleged spying.
Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Gopal Baglay said on Thursday that the Government of India was pursuing Jadhav’s case at a bilateral level with Pakistan through the Indian High Commission in Islamabad. Baglay added that since access to Jadhav has been denied, the Indian Government has no idea about his location and his condition despite making several attempts to meet him.
The MEA has categorically denied that Jadhav was an Indian spy and even questioned Pakistan’s intention on this. “Consular access is an international norm. Both India and Pakistan have a bilateral agreement for consular access. To put conditions for consular access to Jadhav is putting the cart before the horse. It clearly means denying access,” Baglay said. He asserted that the whole country’s sentiments are with Jadhav and the Government will not spare any efforts in securing justice for the “innocent” Indian.
Baglay added the Pakistani Government itself has confessed that it has no evidence against him, so the entire court martial was a farce.
Right to consular access is enshrined in Section 36 (C) in the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations and both India and Pakistan are signatories to the convention.
The Vienna Convention on Consular Relations says: “Consular officers shall have the right to visit a national of the sending State who is in prison, custody or detention, to converse and correspond with him and to arrange for his legal representation. They shall also have the right to visit any national of the sending State who is in prison, custody or detention in their district in pursuance of a judgment. Nevertheless, consular officers shall refrain from taking action on behalf of a national who is in prison, custody or detention if he expressly opposes such action.”
Meanwhile, the Pakistan Army has maintained that they will not make any compromise on Jadhav.
In December 2016, Sartaj Aziz, Adviser to Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, conceded before the Pakistani Senate that there was not much evidence against Jadhav. He, however, did a volte-face later.
Baglay questioned the veracity of Pakistan’s allegation that Jadhav was spying and working to destabilize the country by creating tensions in Balochistan. Pakistan also accused Jadhav of travelling to the country on a fake passport.
“We cannot ascertain anything since we do not have any consular access. Which kind of spy keeps an original passport with him so I have my doubts about any allegations of him being a spy...We need to know how he came to be in Pakistan in the first place. The trial of Jadhav was opaque and farcical, no due process was followed and all legal and international norms were defied,” Baglay said.
He asserted that Jadhav is an innocent Indian who is a retired officer of the Indian Navy and these two things were conveyed to Pakistan in March 2016.
India has been maintaining that Jadhav, who had legal business interests in Iran, was kidnapped by Pakistan authorities. This was also conveyed to Iran which launched its own investigation in the matter. However, the outcome of Iran’s investigations is yet to be known.
Meanwhile, the social media was flooded with comments full of anguish from people of both countries who questioned Pakistan’s decision to let go of American spy Raymond Davis who killed two Pakistanis, after blood money was paid to the family of those killed, and hang Jadhav despite no evidence against him.