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 ******r, who was involved in terrorist activities in Pakistan, thus would **t 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 **t 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 an**unced by the spokesman at the Foreign ******, but on Wednesday only Radio
Pakistan had
access to the information about the meeting. The Foreign ****** also did **t find it fit to put the details of the meeting on its official website as is the **rm. 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 ****** 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 **t 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 **w. India **w 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 **t interested to explain, even to its own media. Also New Delhi so far has **t even had the courage to make public a simple document which proves that
Kulbhushan has retired from the
Indian navy, a **tification which militaries the world over make public and a copy is provided to the retired ******r. Why
Kulbhushan when he was being assisted by a legal team was **t able to prove that he is a retired ******r. 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 ******r, 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 **t 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 **t breached anything. We are proceeding as per our laws as well as bilateral obligation and commitment.”
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