Pakistan offers India to start "Composite Bilateral Dialogue"
Shares
Pakistan’s high commissioner in New Delhi has effectively ruled out providing India consular access to self-confessed spy Kulbhushan Jadhav.
In an interview with Times of India, Abdul Basit said Islamabad will follow domestic laws, not the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, 1963 (VCCR), in deciding whether to entertain India’s plea or not.
The envoy also made a strong pitch for starting the December 2015 Composite Bilateral Dialogue (CBD) which, he insisted, was the right way of addressing even India’s concerns on cross-border terrorism, including the delay in Mumbai trial and lack of progress in Pathankot airbase attack case.
Basit blamed India for the delay in Mumbai trial saying that progress was linked to the need for Pakistan authorities to examine 24 Indian witnesses.
India has requested for consular access to Jadhav on 16 occasions. Basit, however, said the Vienna Convention, to which Pakistan is party, cannot get precedence over domestic laws.
