india.com : Jul 17, 2020, 04:07 PM
New Delhi: Pakistan on Friday offered India third consular access to Kulbhushan Jadhav, an Indian national in its custody since March 2016, a day after Indian officials met him in Islamabad after being given second consular access to meet him, local media has reported.“Pakistan has offered third consular access to India to Kulbhushan Jadhav; a note verbale has been sent meeting India’s demand to not have a security personnel during the meeting”, Pakistani media quoted Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi as saying. Notably, India had on Thursday complained that the consular access to Jadhav was not ‘meaningful and credible’, adding that throughout the meeting, ‘Pakistani officials with an intimidating demeanour were present in close proximity of Jadhav’.Pakistan had given first consular access to India in September 2019 after an order from the International Court of Justice (ICJ).Earlier this week, Islamabad claimed that Jadhav, a former Indian Navy officer, ‘has refused to file a review petition and has decided to go ahead with his pending mercy plea.’Last July, The Hague-based ICJ had directed Pakistan to review Jadhav’s death sentence, handed to him by a military court, adding that it should stay suspended in the meantime. He was sentenced to death for ‘espionage’. The world court also agreed with India’s argument that Pakistan had violated the Vienna convention by denying consular access to Jadhav after his conviction in what India called ‘a farcical closed trial’.In April 2017, India had taken Pakistan to ICJ over Jadhav and, next month, his execution was put on hold.