Pakistan has not granted India consular access to death-row prisoner Kulbhushan Jadhav, said Pakistani media quoting their foreign office on Monday, 25 December.
Earlier in the day, PTI had said that Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif told a Pakistani media channel that they had permitted consular access to Jadhav.
He had said an official of Indian High Commission would accompany Jadhav’s wife and mother during their meeting with him, Geo News reported.
When asked if it constituted “consular access as an Indian official would be present in the meeting,” Asif categorically said, “Yes.”
Had India been in place of us, it would not have given us this concession.Khawaja Muhammad Asif
In India, officials downplayed the comments by the Pakistani minister, maintaining that the Indian diplomat was only accompanying Jadhav’s family and it cannot be construed as “consular access.”
Meanwhile, Jadhav’s wife and mother will arrive in Islamabad on 25 December, to meet him, the Pakistan Foreign Office has said.
They will arrive in Islamabad by a commercial flight and leave the same day after the meeting, it added.
India’s Deputy High Commissioner JP Singh will accompany the visitors to the meeting.
Foreign Office spokesman Mohammad Faisal tweeted:
Earlier, media reports said that Pakistan had asked India to convey the plan of Jadhav's family at the earliest, otherwise it would be difficult to arrange the meeting.
Separately, Faisal had said that the meeting would take place at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and its photo and video footage would be issued.
The mother and wife of Jadhav were being provided with a meeting with him in the light of “Islamic traditions and based on purely humanitarian grounds,” he had said.
Pakistan on 20 December had issued visa to Jadhav’s wife and mother.
(With inputs from PTI and ANI.)
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