Staff Reporter
Islamabad
Pakistan has decided to provide third consular access to Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav, said the spokesperson for the foreign ministry on Friday.
The spokesperson also shared that Islamabad has informed New Delhi about the decision, adding that Pakistan has also suggested providing the consular access without the presence of security personnel.
“Pakistan is awaiting India’s response,” said the spokesperson of the ministry. The development comes a day after Pakistan provided the second consular access to Jadhav.
Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Friday said Pakistan provided consular access to Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav a day earlier, but Indian diplomats refused to speak to him.
The foreign minister said India’s actions have been exposed after the diplomats refused to speak to the Indian spy. In a statement, he said this is a jolt for India and the opposition is criticising the Bharatiya Janata Party government.
Referring to the border tensions between India and its neighbours, Qureshi said India has wanted to isolate Pakistan but instead has been isolated themselves.
However, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Thursday said India’s ill-intentions were revealed when Pakistan provided New Delhi’s diplomats uninterrupted consular access to RAW spy Kulbhushan Jadhav for a second time at the country’s own request, but they left without meeting him in Islamabad. “Two Indian diplomats were given consular access to Kulbhushan, according to what was agreed upon. [However], India’s ill-intentions have been unmasked. They did not want consular access,” Qureshi said.
The foreign minister had said that Jadhav kept calling out to the Indian diplomats but they left. “He kept calling out to them, saying he wanted to meet them, but they left saying the environment was unsuitable.”
“The Indian diplomats’ behaviour was surprising. Why did the diplomats ask for consular access when they did not even want to talk to Kulbhushan?”
Qureshi underlined that last year, when consular access was provided the first time, the diplomats had objected to a glass wall in the middle, as well as the audio- and video-recording of the meeting. “All of the diplomats’ wishes were fulfiled today but they left nonetheless,” he had said, adding that they made excuses that “the space is constrained and the environment not suitable”.
According to a Foreign Office statement released after the meeting, Pakistan had provided India unimpeded and uninterrupted consular access to Jadhav for a second time at India’s request.