Pakistan has played a new bet in the Kulbhushan Jadhav case, sentenced to death on a false charge of the detective. Pakistan has used the same tactics as the sentence he was sentenced to death without a fair trial in order to prevent him from filing an appeal against his conviction in the High Court, Pakistan claims that Jadhav does not want to appeal against the decision. This has increased the challenges of India in the struggle to save them. Earlier, Pakistan had to face an embarrassing defeat at the hands of India in the International Court of Justice in this case. Last year, the ICJ ordered Pakistan to suspend the execution of the sentence and reconsider the decision.
Jadhav has until July 20 to file a review petition against the sentence. But Pakistan claims he does not want a review of the decision and wants to file a mercy petition. India has demanded unconditional diplomatic access to Jadhav, rejecting Pakistan's claim.
Meanwhile, Pakistan has made another tactic, offering India diplomatic access to Jadhav. But India did not want to accept the conditions with which it had given consular access earlier.
On Pakistan's "offer," India has bluntly said that if Pakistan wants to follow the ICJ's decision on this matter in the truest sense, then it will provide unconditional diplomatic access to Jadhav. During that time, Indian diplomats should be allowed to talk to Jadhav without any restraint so that he can speak freely without any pressure.
Jadhav's childhood friend Arvind Singh also wants Pakistan to repeat what it did last time in the name of consular access. He said: 'Last time they insulted Jadhav's parents, wife and the whole of India. We want consular access to be unconditional.
India has demanded from Pakistan that none of its officials is present there during a meeting of diplomats with Jadhav. Apart from this, there is no audio or video recording facility in the room so that Jadhav can speak without any fear.
India has told Pakistan not to insist on talks in English only during the meeting. In addition, the government wants Pakistan to allow its 2 officials to meet Jadhav. However, Pakistan has offered to allow only one officer to meet and continues to refuse permission to speak to Jadhav in private.
The Government of India believes that there is no point in granting diplomatic access to conditions. Pakistan is just pretending to give diplomatic access so that the world feels that it is following the decision of the ICJ. Last week, Pak claimed that Jadhav wanted to file a mercy petition instead of filing a review petition. India reacted sharply to this and said that it had forced Jadhav to do so by putting pressure on him. Islamabad later said that whether it was a 'legally valid representative' or an officer of the Indian High Commission, it could file a review petition on behalf of Jadhav.
To prevent the Jadhav review petition being filed, Pakistan played a lot of thoughtfully. On 20 May, it issued a rescript stating that no review petition could be filed after 60 days in this case. They have set a deadline of July 20 for the review petition. India termed it against the ICJ's decision.
With just 4 days left before the review petition, India's challenges have increased. In the absence of diplomatic outreach in the true sense, the government believes that if it is taken for review, then it is like playing into the hands of Pakistan. India is now pressuring Islamabad to allow diplomats to meet Jadhav in private. Since the deadline is close, New Delhi is also considering an option to go to the ICJ again.
Retired Indian Navy officer Kulbhushan Jadhav was kidnapped by Pakistan and made false confessions by him. Jadhav was sentenced to death by a military court there in April 2017, on the basis of the same false confessions. India turned to the ICJ against this. The International Court of Justice prohibited the execution of Jadhav. Last year, the ICJ accused Pakistan of violating the Vienna Convention and ordered it to give India political access to Jadhav.
According to Pakistan's claim, Jadhav was arrested in Balochistan province in March 2016 when he was caught committing detective activities. India says Jadhav was abducted from Iran, where he left for business after retiring from the Navy.