Pakistan again rejects Indian request for consular access to Kulbhushan

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has once again declined consular access to Indian spy Kulbhushan Yadav who has been sentenced to death by a field general court martial.

It was Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua who on Wednesday in a meeting with Indian High Commissioner Gautam Bambawale reiterated that since Kulbhushan was a serving Indian naval officer, who was involved in terrorist activities in Pakistan, thus would not be given consular access.

Earlier Indian Minister for External Affairs Sushma Swaraj had told parliament that New Delhi would go to any length for the release of Kulbhushan from Pakistan’s custody, but did not spell out what steps the Modi government was going to take in this regard.

Interestingly, unlike in the past such high level meetings of the foreign secretary are announced by the spokesman at the Foreign Office, but on Wednesday only Radio Pakistan had access to the information about the meeting. The Foreign Office also did not find it fit to put the details of the meeting on its official website as is the norm. During a meeting with the foreign secretary in Islamabad, Bambawale requested that consular access be granted to Kulbhushan, the state-run radio reported. Bambawale has come to the Foreign Office for the second time to be informed that Pakistan’s decision in Bambawale’s case is unchanged because of legalities and such access is certainly not given to enemy spies.

India too in the past has denied consular access to several Pakistanis in their custody so it should understand that the shoe is on the other foot now. India now has approached Pakistan 14 times for such access for their citizen who has been traveling into Pakistan with two different passports, a crime which the Modi government is not interested to explain, even to its own media. Also New Delhi so far has not even had the courage to make public a simple document which proves that Kulbhushan has retired from the Indian navy, a notification which militaries the world over make public and a copy is provided to the retired officer. Why Kulbhushan when he was being assisted by a legal team was not able to prove that he is a retired officer. Also why is Tehran mum on providing details about Kulbhushan’s activities inside Iran, given their strong surveillance system unless they are adhering to requests from New Delhi.

The state-run radio pointed out that Islamabad ruled out any possibility of giving India consular access to Kulbhushan. The Indian high commissioner repeated India’s demand for consular access to Kulbhushan. However, Tehmina Janjua, pointing out the legal aspects of the case, said Kulbhushan was a serving Indian naval officer, who was involved in terrorist activities in Pakistan.

Earlier, Pakistan’s High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit on Monday rejected New Delhi’s claim that Islamabad is violating a bilateral pact by not giving consular access to Kulbhushan. Abdul Basit also said, “So far decision (Kulbhushan’s execution) has been taken strictly in accordance with the law of the land and as per the bilateral agreement of 2008 (with India). We have not breached anything. We are proceeding as per our laws as well as bilateral obligation and commitment.”