‘Will grant consular access to Kulbhushan Jadhav according to our laws’: Pakistan

Pakistan will grant consular access to Kulbhushan Jadhav, former officer of the Indian Navy, in accordance with the ruling of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the Foreign Office said.

In a late night statement, the Pakistan Foreign Office said it has informed Jadhav of his rights to consular access under the Vienna Convention.

“As a responsible state, Pakistan will grant consular access to Kulbushan Jadhav according to Pakistani laws, for which modalities are being worked out,” it said.

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The ICJ on Wednesday ruled that Pakistan had violated Jadhav’s right to consular access and called for a review of the death sentence handed to him by a military court at an appropriate forum of Islamabad’s choice.

In a ruling seen as a significant victory for India’s efforts to prevent the execution of the 49-year-old, the court ruled that a continued stay of Jadhav’s death sentence was an “indispensable condition” for an effective “review and reconsideration” of his conviction.

Noting the review could be done in various ways, ICJ left the “choice of means” to Pakistan. The court, based in The Hague, Netherlands, said the review must be unconditional and lead to a result. It also called on Pakistan to take all measures for an effective review, including “enacting appropriate legislation”.

Jadhav was arrested by Pakistani security agencies in Balochistan on March 3, 2016, and charged with involvement in spying and subversive activities. In April 2017, Pakistan announced that Jadhav had been given the death sentence by a military court.