India's appeal to Pakistan, unconditional grant of counselor access to Kulbhushan Jadhav

New delhi date. Thursday 16 July 2020

India has asked Pakistan to grant unconditional counselor access to Kulbhushan Jadhav, an Indian national and former naval officer imprisoned. Counselor access means allowing the Indian ambassador or official to meet them in jail. Last week, India said it was looking for legal options in the case.

However, Pakistan claimed that Jadhav, who was sentenced to death by a military court, had refused to file a reconsideration petition. However, Pakistan later turned after India's tough stance. Pakistan's foreign ministry has allowed Kulbhushan Jadhav to appeal against the death sentence.

Kulbhushan met Indian officials last year

On September 2, 2019, Pakistan granted consular access to Kulbhushan Jadhav for the first time. He was met by Deputy High Commissioner of India Gaurav Ahluwalia in Islamabad at the time. After the meeting, India said that Pakistan was putting a lot of pressure on Kulbhushan Jadhav to make a false statement. This was India's first diplomatic visit to Jadhav since his arrest in 2016.

The international court ordered him to be given consular access. After which India once again demanded consular access but later Pakistan refused.

The ICJ asked to reconsider the sentence

Jadhav was sentenced to death in April 2017 by a Pakistani military court. A few weeks later, India appealed to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against Pakistan for not allowing Jadhav access to the embassy and for the death sentence handed down to him.

The ICJ then barred Pakistan from executing the sentence. The Hague-based court had said in July last year that Pakistan should effectively review and reconsider Jadhav's conviction and sentence and make it accessible to the Indian embassy without any delay.