India bargains hard on terms of consular access for Kulbhushan Jadhav

New Delhi, July 26: Indian diplomats in Pakistan are working overtime, discussing the terms and conditions of the consular access to Kulbhushan Jadhav.

Some of the key issues that are under discussion include, how many Indian officials would conduct the interview of Jadhav. It is also being discussed if Pakistan officials would be present during the process. The other issue under discussion is whether there would be a glass partition when the interviews are being conducted.

Article 36 of the Vienna Convention says that consular officers shall be free to communicate with nationals of the sending state and to have access to them. Nationals of the sending state (India in this case) shall have the same freedom to communication with access to consular officers of the sending state, paragraph one of the article also states.

Meanwhile, Pakistan on Thursday said that it was working to grant consular access to Jadhav, days after a UN court ordered Islamabad to make an "effective review and reconsideration" of his conviction and death sentence and also grant consular access.

Jadhav, 49, a retired Indian Navy officer, was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court on charges of "espionage and terrorism" after a closed trial in April 2017. His sentencing evoked a sharp reaction in India.

In a reprieve for Jadhav, a 16-member bench of the International Court of Justice on July 17 by a 15-1 vote continued the stay on the execution and held that Islamabad violated New Delhi's rights to consular visits after his arrest.

"We said (earlier) that consular access will be given and (now) work has been started on that," Foreign Office spokesman Mohammad Faisal told reporters during his weekly media briefing.