Pakistan will pour oil in fire if it hangs Kulbhushan Jadhav before ICJ verdict, says ex-German ambassador Mulack

Pakistan is in violation of the Vienna Convention by not giving consular access to Kulbhushan Jadhav, Gunter Mulack, former German ambassador to Pakistan told Mail Today.

In an exclusive interview from Berlin, Dr Mulack insisted Pakistan will be pouring oil in fire if it hanged Kulbhushan Jadhav while the matter is still being deliberated upon by the International Court of Justice.

"I had said during the course of a seminar in Karachi that it was heard Jadhav was abducted by the Taliban in Iran and then sold to Pakistan's ISI.

Gunter Mulack, former German ambassador to Pakistan.

"It is not uncommon for this to happen in the border areas. But this was what locals told me. It was not what German intelligence had picked up" he added. Both India and Pakistan are signatories of the Vienna Convention. And as per laid-down norms, Pakistan should have informed India and given consular access to Jadhav.

GRANT CONSULAR ACCESS, NOT TOO LATE: MULACK

"Even now it is not too late. If there is a high-level interaction between the Prime Minister of India and of



Pakistan, a step can be taken to open dialogue and not hang Jadhav and reduce tensions between the two countries," he insisted.

Mulack had stirred a hornet's nest in Pakistan last year when he spoke at a seminar and said he had heard Jadhav was working in Chabahar in Iran and had been abducted by the Taliban from along the Iran-Pakistan border and then sold to Pakistan's ISI.

India has all along maintained Jadhav was abducted from Iran. Pakistan on the other hand claimed at the ICJ that Jadhav was arrested from the restive Balochistan province on charges of terror and espionage. Meanwhile at the ICJ, the eleven judges have been burning the midnight oil to deliberate on India's plea for urgent intervention to save an innocent man from the gallows in Pakistan.

The president of the ICJ at the conclusion of the hearing said a verdict will be delivered as soon as possible. Though India is relieved by the ICJ's interim order asking Pakistan to maintain status quo till India's plea is decided by the ICJ, New Delhi is hopeful of a quick verdict to stop Pakistan from hanging an innocent businessman.