Pakistan offers 3rd consular meeting with Kulbhushan Jhadhav, says there will be no Pakistani officials present

Last updated on February 14th, 2023 at 12:43 pm

In a big step, Pakistan has offered full access to the third consular meeting with Kulbhushan Jhadhav, imprisoned former Indian naval officer in Islamabad, after a little turbulent atmosphere on Thursday due to Pakistan’s restrictions at the meeting between two Indian high commission.

Pakistan’s foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi confirmed the latest development and said that they have agreed on India’s demand to not have any security personnel during the meeting with Kulbhushan.

“They (India) had objected over the presence of security officials during the meeting, we are willing even to remove those officials. If India wants another access then our offer is open. If they (India) want to meet him tonight or tomorrow, we are ready,” Qureshi was quoted by Pakistani media reports as saying.

However, it was reported that though the Indian officials had an objection with our side of the officials being there, they did not listen to Jhadhav. The Indian officials who came to meet Jadhav on Thursday left without hearing him out. “(Jhadav) kept asking the Indian diplomats to talk to him and they left,” claimed Qureshi.

The Indian consular officials claimed that they found Pakistani officials with “an intimidating demeanour” near Jadhav and a camera being used to record the conversation. The needed privacy to discuss filing a review petition against the death sentence in Islamabad High court.

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MEA spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said, “The consular officers could not engage Jadhav on his legal rights and were prevented from obtaining his written consent for arranging his legal representation. In the light of these circumstances, the Indian consular officers came to the conclusion that the consular access being offered by Pakistan was neither meaningful nor credible. After lodging a protest, they left the venue.” Pakistan has now offered a consular meeting for the third time. If India accepts the offer, it will be beneficial for Jhadhav who has been locked up since 2016 and now even been given the death sentence.