While addressing weekly media briefing in Islamabad on Thursday, Foreign Office spokesman Nafees Zakariya stated that the government is considering Indian request to allow consular access to RAW agent Kulbhushan Jadhav, who was arrested in Balochistan province recently.
Nafees Zakaria said RAW agent Kulbushan Jadhav is being interrogated in the light of his confession statement.Pakistan remains concerned at the subversive activities of RAW against Pakistan and its interests in various locations in the region, he added.
The spokesperson said that Iran has assured it will not allow its soil to be used against Pakistan.
Jadhav, an Indian Navy officer and agent of the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), was captured near Balochistan’s Chaman town on March 3, 2016.
Confirming Jadhav as a retired Indian Navy officer, New Delhi has sought consular access to him.
“We have sought consular access to him. India has no interest in interfering in internal matters of any country and firmly believes that a stable and peaceful Pakistan is in the interest of all in the region,” said a statement issued by India’s Ministry of External Affairs on March 25.
The Pakistani Foreign Ministry’s remarks came a day after a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on National Security headed by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif expressed concern over the apparent role of hostile agencies including RAW in Pakistan.
Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, Interior Minister Ch Nisar, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, Army Chief Gen Raeel Sharif, Chief of Naval Staff, Chief of Air Staff, Director General ISI, National Security Advisor and other senior officials were present in the meeting.
In a video footage aired by the government few days ago, Kulbhushan Jadhav said he had set up an office in Chabahar in southeast Iran in 2003 and later worked for the Indian agency.
Afterwards, the interior ministry, in a letter to Iran’s ambassador in Islamabad, Mehdi Honardoost, said the Indian made had made "startling revelations" about an Indian spy network operating against Pakistan from Iranian soil.
"His mission included spying and sabotage, in addition to fomenting insecurity and instability in the provinces of Sindh and Balochistan," the ministry said in the letter.
Read more: In-service officer of RAW arrested after major crackdown in Balochistan
Pakistan asked Iran to provide information about the Indian man’s activities, and the people he interacted with there, the ministry said.
Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest but most impoverished province, is home to a raging insurgency that has claimed the lives of hundreds of soldiers and militants since it re-ignited in 2004, with rebels often attacking government installations and personnel.
Read more: Intelligence agencies arrest 13 more accomplices of RAW agent
To a question, Foreign Office spokesman Nafees Zakariya said Pakistan will continue to raise Samjhota Express terrorist attack with India.
He said India has not apprised Pakistan of progress in investigations into the train bombing.
