TIL Desk/World/Islamabad/New Delhi/ Pakistan has granted India consular access to Indian death row prisoner Kulbhushan Jadhav by allowing the presence of an Indian diplomat during the meeting with his family, Foreign Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif told a Pakistani media channel.
Asif, last night, told that Indian Deputy High Commissioner J P Singh accompanying Jadhav’s wife and mother, who arrived here today, could be considered “consular access”. Asked specifically if it constituted consular access as an Indian official would be present in the meeting, Asif said, “Yes”.
However, Foreign Office spokesperson Mohammad Faisal today said that India was not given consular access to Jadhav. Faisal told media that “presence of an official of Indian High Commission in the meeting was not consular access” as he would only see the meeting taking place.
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”. Faisal has earlier also said that the decision to allow Jadhav to meet his family was taken on “humanitarian grounds”.
They would be immediately travelling back to India via Oman. They will travel to Muscat on Oman Air and then will board Air India flight to New Delhi.
