No talks while Pak plots our son's murder: India

The Narendra Modi Government made it clear to the Pakistani establishment on Saturday that every Indian life is precious and Islamabad cannot hope to hold discussions with us on any issue while simultaneously conspiring to kill Indians with impunity under various blatantly false charges. As a first step in this direction, India has called off the maritime security dialogue with Pakistan scheduled for early next week in the wake of the death sentence given by a Pakistani military court to our former Navy officer, Kulbhushan Jadhav, on fabricated charges of spying.

A delegation led by Pakistan's Maritime Security Agency (MSA) was scheduled to visit New Delhi from April 16 to 19 to discuss issues related to fishermen and search and rescue operations. Coast Guard sources said that our Ministry of Defence has not given clearance for the delegation's visit. India has made it categorically clear that if Jadhav is executed, we will consider it a "premeditated murder".

Meanwhile, Minister of State for External Affairs V K Singh said on Saturday that the Government is taking all measures to gain consular access to Jadhav despite Pakistan denying it "13 times". "The Pakistan government has denied consular access to Jadhav despite India trying 13 times.

We are trying everything to get access to Jadhav," he told reporters.

Singh maintained that Jadhav was abducted from Iran. A Pakistan military court had on April 10 sentenced Jadhav to death in a secret trial for alleged involvement in "espionage and sabotage activities" in the restive Balochistan and Karachi.

According to the Vienna Convention, a State which detains a national of another country must allow consular officers of his/ her mother country to access the detainee. India had said on Friday that we would appeal against the death sentence and demanded from Pakistan a certified copy of the chargesheet as well as the Pakistani army court order in the case, besides seeking consular access to the retired Indian Navy officer.