Pakistan processing steps to ensure review of Kulbhushan Jadhav case: FO

Pakistan said on Thursday that it was processing steps to ensure the review of the Kulbhushan Jadhav case in the wake of the verdict by the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

The Hague-based ICJ ruled in July last year that Pakistan must undertake an "effective review and reconsideration" of the conviction and sentence of Jadhav and also to grant consular access to India without further delay.

Jadhav, the 49-year-old retired Indian Navy officer, was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court on charges of "espionage and terrorism" in April 2017. Weeks later, India approached the ICJ against Pakistan for denial of consular access to Jadhav and challenging the death sentence.

"Pakistan has granted India consular access to Commander Jadhav and is processing measures for effective review and reconsideration as per the guidelines provided by ICJ in its Judgment,” Foreign Office spokesperson Aisha Farooqui said at the weekly briefing when asked to comment on a recent statement by Harish Salve, the Indian counsel in the Jadhav case at the ICJ.

Farooqui said that on humanitarian grounds, Pakistan even arranged meeting of Jadhav with his mother and wife.

“Being a responsible state, Pakistan abides by all its international obligations and will continue doing so,” she said.

"We were hoping that through back channel, we may be able to persuade Pakistan to let him go. If they want to say on humanitarian ground or whatever, we want him back. We said let him go. Because it has become a big ego problem in Pakistan. So, we were hoping that they will let him go. They haven't," Salve said on May 3.

Pakistan claims that its security forces arrested Jadhav from the restive Balochistan province on March 3, 2016 after he reportedly entered from Iran.

However, India maintains that Jadhav was kidnapped from Iran where he had business interests after retiring from the Navy.

Talking about the recent statement of the Indian army chief that he asked the government to adopt a "whole-of-government approach" in decisively confronting the “strategic uncertainties”, Farooqui said, "irresponsible rhetoric were motivated by an exaggerated view of its own capacities and hegemonic designs."

On India’s reaction to Pakistan's Supreme Court ruling regarding elections in Gilgit Baltistan, she said a senior Indian diplomat was summoned to the Foreign Office to convey "our strong rejection of India’s baseless and fallacious contentions."

To a question about alleged violation of the Indus Water Treaty by India, she said, "our concerns on this score are well known” and Pakistan “unambiguously raised its concerns with India via the mechanisms provided within the Treaty and will continue to pursue a resolution of these issues through all possible avenues.”