ISLAMABAD: Pakistan said two consular officers of the Indian High Commission in Islamabad were given access on Thursday to an Indian officer convicted of spying and sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court in 2017.
Kulbhushan Jadhav was arrested in March 2016 in Pakistan’s southwestern province of Baluchistan, the site of a long-running conflict between security forces and separatists. He was convicted of planning espionage and sabotage and sentenced to death.
India says Jadhav is innocent. Last year the World Court ordered Pakistan to review the death penalty for Jadhav.
Last week, Pakistan’s foreign office said Jadhav had refused to file a review petition against the death sentence but Pakistan would offer him consular access for a second time.
“Two consular officers of the Indian High Commission in Islamabad were provided unimpeded and uninterrupted consular access to Commander Jadhav at 1500 hours,” the foreign office said in a statement on Thursday.
“First consular access under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations (VCCR) 1963 was earlier provided by Pakistan on 2 September 2019. The mother and wife of Commander Jadhav were also allowed to meet him on 25 December 2017.”
Pakistan authorities say Jadhav confessed to being ordered by India’s intelligence service to conduct espionage and sabotage in Balochistan, a province at the centre of a $60 billion Chinese-backed “Belt and Road” development project.
In a transcript released by Pakistan of what it says is Jadhav’s confession, the former naval officer says disrupting the Chinese-funded projects was a main goal of his activities.
Pakistan gives Indian High Commission 'second consular access' to Indian convicted of spying
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Pakistan gives Indian High Commission 'second consular access' to Indian convicted of spying
- Diplomats were provided “unimpeded and uninterrupted” access to Jadhav at 1500 hours, Pakistan says
- Indian officer Jadhav was arrested from Balochistan in 2016 and convicted for spying and sentenced to death in 2017
Pakistan approves upgrades to national ID cards in push to strengthen digital ecosystem
- The amendments allow for QR-based verification, authentication controls, biometric expansion, and card format updates
- The measures advance integrated digital governance through National Data Exchange Layer and broader digital ID ecosystem
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has notified amendments to the National Identity Card and Pakistan Origin Card rules and introduced QR-based verification and stronger fraud controls, the National Database and Regulatory Authority (NADRA) said on Tuesday, amid efforts to strengthen the country’s digital ecosystem.
The amendments modernize Pakistan’s identity document framework by legally embedding QR-based verification, strengthening authentication controls across digital services, expanding biometric recognition and updating card formats for key citizen categories.
A core reform is the statutory introduction of the Quick Response (QR) code as a defined security and verification feature, authorizing the use of “QR code or any other technological feature” in lieu of current microchip enabling NADRA to adopt evolving verification technologies without repeated rule amendments.
This QR-enabled capability directly strengthens Pakistan’s Digital ID ecosystem and supports interoperability through the National Data Exchange Layer, according to the national database regulator.
“This establishes a robust legal basis for quick and secure verification of identity credentials in both offline and online environments,” NADRA said.
“This will also enable all citizens to carry similar card instead of currently prevalent two types of national identity cards one of which is with microchip and the other without.”
Pakistani state media reported in August that the country was developing digital identities of all its citizens to enable secure and efficient payments. The measures came as part of a broader effort to digitize the economy for greater transparency.
QR-based credentials allow rapid front-end validation of identity attributes in service delivery settings, while also enabling back-end systems to confirm authenticity and status through trusted exchanges. This is expected to improve speed, transparency and consistency of identity verification across government entities and regulated sectors, reduce manual handling, and lower the risk of fraud and impersonation, according to NADRA.
The amendments also strengthen the enforcement effect of card suspension. The Rules now clarify that where a card is suspended, all verification, authentication and related services linked to that card shall stand suspended forthwith. This closes a key risk area by ensuring that once a card is suspended, it cannot continue to be used through digital verification channels or institutional authentication processes.
“The amendments also introduce standardized identification for residents of Azad Jammu and Kashmir by requiring an inscription indicating ‘Resident of Azad Jammu and Kashmir’ in the manner specified by the Authority, thereby ensuring uniform geographic identification on the document,” NADRA said.
“Overall, these amendments strengthen the legal and technological foundations of Pakistan’s identity system by enabling secure QR-based verification, reinforcing the integrity of digital authentication services, improving biometric assurance,” it said. “They also advance readiness for integrated digital governance by supporting structured interoperability through the National Data Exchange Layer and a broader Digital ID ecosystem.”
