Days after India described legal and diplomatic process made available to Kulbhushan Jadhav by Pakistan as ‘farcical’, New Delhi on Thursday reiterated that Islamabad must provide unconditional consular access to the Indian national. Addressing a regular media briefing, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said that Pakistan should abide by the ICJ judgment in the matter.

“Pakistan needs to address basic issues which pertain to effective review, fulfilment and implementation of ICJ judgement, these issues pertain to making relevant documentation available to us and providing unimpeded, unhindered and unconditional consular access to Kulbhushan Jadhav,” Srivastava said.

The Islamabad High Court earlier this week had ordered the Pakistan government let India appoint a lawyer for Jadhav. However, the MEA said it is yet to receive any communication Pakistan with regard to the latest court order.

Jadhav, who is a retired Indian Navy officer, was sentenced to death by a military court in Pakistan in 2017 on charges of espionage and terrorism. India had then approached the International Court of Justice (ICJ) challenging the death sentence and demanding consular access to Jadhav.

The Hague-based international court in July 2019 directed Pakistan to review the death order and and also grant consular access to India immediately.