Pakistan has turned down India's request of consular access to Kulbushan Yadav, an Indian naval officer arrested on the charges of espionages for its Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), it was learnt. Sources said the decision not to give access to India to the arrested 'spy' was taken after due consultations with all concerned institutions. Yadav was arrested by the security forces in Balochistan in March this year.
In a video aired in a press conference by ISPR spokesperson Asim Bajwa, Yadav confessed that he was a serving Indian Navy officer and that he had been working for RAW to destabilize Pakistan. However, Indian External Affairs Ministry had accepted Yadav being an Indian national but added the Indian government has no link with him after his premature retirement from the Indian Navy.
Foreign Office spokesperson Nafees Zakria was not available to formally confirm the government of Pakistan's denial of consular access of the Indian government to Yadav. Last month, Zakria told his weekly media briefing that the Indian naval officer working for RAW was arrested during March and the Indian request for consular access was received in April.
"Any consular access request is considered under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations in general. India and Pakistan also have a bilateral agreement, the relevant clauses of which apply on such circumstances in which Kulbhushan Yadav was arrested," he said. The spokesperson further said that Yadav was involved in terrorism and terror financing in Pakistan. "To put it simply, the Indian request for consular access has indeed been received and shall be considered in accordance with the relevant clauses of the two agreements", he added. When approached the Indian High Commission in Islamabad, a spokesperson for the High Commission stated that they had no communication with government of Pakistan on the issue.
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