ISLAMABAD: A day after India sought consular access to Kulbhushan Jadhav an 18th time, Pakistan turned down the request saying Jadhav is no ordinary prisoner and that India is attempting to deny the fact that he is a spy, a foreign office spokesman said here on Sunday.The rejection comes after India and Pakistan exchanged lists of prisoners in each other's jails under the 2008 Agreement on Consular Access. Since Jadhav's arrest last year, Pakistan has rejected every Indian request seeking consular access to him.Spokesperson Nafees Zakaria said equating Jadhav's case with civilian prisoners and fishermen is a "travesty of logic". New Delhi says Jadhav was abducted from Iran. "Five Indian nationals, who had completed their sentences, were repatriated on June 22, while 20 Pakistani civilian prisoners, who had completed their sentences in India, were still awaiting repatriation, whereas consular access to 107 Pakistani fishermen and 85 civilian Pakistani prisoners is also pending," he said.The spokesperson blamed India for delaying the repatriation of two boys, Ali Raza and Babar Ali, who had crossed the border into Indian territory "inadvertently". "We expect India to reciprocate through action rather than rhetoric," he added.

Source: Times of India July 02, 2017 14:40 UTC