Islamabad/New Delhi, August 1

Kulbhushan Jadhav, who is on death row in Pakistan, will be granted consular access by tomorrow, Pakistan Foreign Office spokesman Mohammad Faisal said today.

However, India is uncertain about the offer. “We have to see if the conditions are acceptable,” a source said.

Jadhav, 49, a retired Indian Navy officer, was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court on charges of “espionage and terrorism” in April 2017 following which India had moved the International Court of Justice (ICJ), seeking stay on his death sentence and further remedies.

“Pakistan is awaiting Indian response after it formally informed the Indian High Commission here,” Faisal said at the weekly media briefing. Pakistan sprang a surprise when it asked the Indian High Commission in Islamabad whether its diplomats would like to meet Jadhav tomorrow in light of the ICJ judgment.

The move comes two weeks after the ICJ ordered Pakistan on July 17 to undertake an “effective review and reconsideration” of the conviction and sentence of Jadhav and also to grant consular access to India without further delay. Neither Pakistan nor India has publicly stated the conditions that accompany the offer of diplomatic access to Jadhav.

In its 42-page ruling, the ICJ ruled that Pakistan had “breached” the Vienna Convention on diplomatic relations, which gives countries the right to consular access when their nationals are arrested abroad.

Pakistan claims that its security forces arrested Jadhav from 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. — TNS/PTI