Kulbhushan Jadhav case: Pakistan Army says India will not be given consular access

NEW DELHI: Hours after India tore into Pakistan for its humiliating treatment to Kulbhushan Jadhav's family in Islamabad, Pakistan Army on Thursday said no consular access will be given to the former Indian naval officer in prison for alleged espionage charges. Major General Asif Ghafoor, the Director General of Pakistan's Inter-Services Public Relation (ISPR), denied any possibility of consular access to Jadhav. Ghafoor also denied that Pakistan was under any kind of International pressure to allow Jadhav to meet his family. He said India was told in advance about all the security checks that Jadhav's family will have to undergo while in Islamabad to meet the Indian national. Earlier on Thursday, India tore into Pakistan for presenting the wife and mother of Kulbhushan Jadhav as "widows" during their highly controlled meeting, and accused Islamabad of turning an emotional moment into "an instrument to further its propaganda." Pakistani authorities had forced Kulbhushan Jadhav's mother Avanti and wife Chetna to remove their mangalsutra, bindi and bangles when they met him Islamabad on Monday. The two ladies were made to change their attire before the meeting citing security protocol. After seeing his mother without mangasultra, the first question Jadhav asked her was about 'baba' (his father). He wondered whether something "bad" had happened back home. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj told the Lok Sabha on Thursday that when she talked to Avanti about the meeting, she said Jadhav's first question was: how is Baba? Later, the former Indian naval officer realised that the mangalsutra', bindi and bangles were removed on security grounds when he saw his wife was also not wearing them. Normally, a Hindu woman does not wear the 'mangalsutra' and bindi or vermillion after the death of her husband. Sushma said the removal of the 'mangalsutra' was a height of disrespect as Jadhav's mother had told the Pakistani officials that it was a symbol of marriage, but they did not relent.