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India says Pakistan denies consular access request to meet convicted spy

Xinhua, April 13, 2017 Adjust font size:

The Indian government said Thursday that Pakistan has been denying its requests for consular access to meet Kulbhushan Jadhav, a former navy officer sentenced to death on charges of spying.

The government said it has no information about the whereabouts of Jadhav in Pakistan.

"Kulbhushan Jadhav is a kidnapped innocent Indian, who is a retired officer of Indian navy and we have communicated it to Pakistan a year ago, when it came into our notice that he has been illegally detained there," India's foreign ministry spokesperson Gopal Baglay told media.

"So far we had made 13 consular access requests to Pakistan in case of Kulbhushan Jadhav but the requests have been turned down and therefore we don't know where or in what condition he is being held."

According to Baglay, Pakistan has also not shared any details about Jadhav's condition.

India Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj has told the Indian parliament that her ministry would go "out of the way" to save Jadhav.

Jadhav, according to Pakistan, was arrested on March 3 last year in restive Balochistan province and sentenced to death on Monday by a military court for carrying out "espionage and sabotage activities against Pakistan." Shortly after his arrest, Pakistan military's Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) released his confessional video admitting involvement in spying.

Balochistan is hit by a separatist insurgency and Pakistan blames India of backing the separatism in the province.

India rejects Pakistan's claims and said Jadhav was "kidnapped" and tried on "concocted charges."

New Delhi believes Jadhav has been picked up from Iran.

In these conflicting reports how and where Jadhav was detained remains shrouded in mystery.

According to media reports, he has 40 days to appeal to the court against his death penalty.

The two nuclear-armed neighbors - India and Pakistan have a long history of diplomatic spars and both sides often accuse each other of sending spies into their territories to create trouble.

Last year the two countries blamed each others that officials at their respective missions in New Delhi and Islamabad for spying and subsequently forcing each other to withdrew them.

In 2013, Sarabjit Singh, an Indian man on death row, was killed after an attack by fellow prisoners. A Pakistani prisoner Sonaullah sentenced for life died in a similar circumstances days later.

The attack on Sonaullah was seen as an apparent retaliation to the death of Singh. Endit