India has no information on retired Indian Navy officer Kulbhushan Jadhav's location in Pakistan or his condition, the external affairs ministry said on Thursday, noting that it is in touch with the government there on this "immensely important" issue.
It is also understood that India, which has been denied consular access to Jadhav 13 times, has again moved a request for access to him. Asserting that the whole country's sentiment is with Jadhav, External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Gopal Baglay said the government will not spare any effort in securing justice for the "kidnapped innocent" Indian national but refused to divulge details.
The 46-year-old Jadhav has been awarded death sentence by a Pakistani military court on charges of alleged "espionage and sabotage" activities. Baglay criticised the Pakistan government for not sharing Jadhav's location and details of his condition, adding that the international norm is consular access, and India and Pakistan have a bilateral agreement on consular access.
He also referred to India's demarche to Pakistan where it was clearly conveyed that given the circumstances of the case which includes kidnapping of Jadhav, absence of any credible evidence to substantiates the concocted charges against him, farcical nature of the proceedings against him and denial of consular access to him, the people and the government of India will consider this as a "premeditated murder". He also quoted the external affairs minister's statement in the Rajya Sabha where she had warned Pakistan of consequences of Jadhav's issue on bilateral ties.
She had also talked about Pakistan asking India to assist in the investigations against Jadhav in January. "The Parliament of India has spoken in one voice, the whole country's sentiments are with Jadhav... The government is trying its best to ensure justice to Jadhav. At the moment, we are engaged in achieving this objective but I would not like to speculate on the future steps, specifically," the spokesperson said. The government is in touch with Pakistan through the Indian High Commission on this "immensely important" issue, he added.
Baglay said Jadhav is an innocent Indian who is a retired officer of the Indian Navy and these two things were conveyed to Pakistan in March, 2016 when issue of his "illegal custody there came to our attention". On reports of Jadhav carrying a fake identity or original Indian passport, Baglay said, "We cannot ascertain anything since we did not have any consular access. What kind of spy keeps an original passport, especially if he is going on so called spying mission. India has been maintaining that Jadhav was kidnapped by Pakistan authorities.
