Kulbhushan Jadhav was under extreme pressure to parrot Pakistan's lies, says MEA

India on Monday got the first consular access to Kulbhushan Jadhav but he was under a lot of pressure to repeat Pakistan's false narrative during the meeting with Deputy High Commissioner Gaurav Ahluwalia. The Ministry of External Affairs said that while the details of the meeting are awaited, the pressure on Jadhav from Pakistan was clear.

MEA spokesperson Ravish Kumar said that the pressure on Jadhav was amply clear. "While we await a comprehensive report, it was clear that Shri Jadhav appeared to be under extreme pressure to parrot a false narrative to bolster Pakistan’s untenable claims," he said. "We will decide a further course of action after receiving a detailed report from our Cd’A (Charge d’ Affaires, High Commission of India) and determining the extent of conformity to the ICJ (International Court of Justice directives."

Kumar also said that Monday's consular access ' was part of the binding obligations of Pakistan, as ordered by the ICJ, to ensure effective review and reconsideration of the conviction and sentence awarded to Shri Jadhav through a farcical process.'

Pakistan had made its second offer on consular access to Jadhav after the first was rejected by India because of its two riders - one that Pakistani security personnel will be present in the meet and there will be CCTV cameras present in the room. It is not clear if the riders existed during Monday's meeting.

The Pakistani proposals for consular access to Jadhav have come after New Delhi got a major diplomatic victory at the ICJ.

On July 17th, in its verdict, President of the ICJ - Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf - had said,"Islamic Republic of Pakistan is under an obligation to inform Kulbhushan Sudhir Jadhav without further delay of his rights and to provide Indian consular officers access to him in accordance with Article 36 of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations."

ICJ had declared that Pakistan is under an obligation to inform Jadhav without further 'delay of his rights.'