On Monday, the Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Khwaja M Asif granted a consular access to India, in connection with Kulbhushan Jadhav, who is a former Indian Navy Officer and was sentenced to death on the charges of espionage.
The Foreign Minister of Pakistan told the media that they are going to allow a meeting between Kulbhushan Jadhav and his family. His family beng his wife and his mother. He also added that “Had India been in place of us, it would not have given us this concession.”
Jadhav’s family from India will arrive in Pakistan through a commercial airlines to meet him and leave on the same day. The Indian Deputy High Commissioner JP Singh in Islamabad, Pakistan is going to accompany them during this meeting. Since his arrest in Pakistan, this is going to be the first contact Jadhav is going to have with his family.
Avanti Jadhav, Kulbhushan Jadhav’s mother and his wife are expected to fly from Dubai today on Monday to have the first interaction with him in ages. According to sources, Kulbhushan Jadhav is going to travel with the officials of Pakistan to the capital of Pakistan for this meeting. His family, however, is not going to interact with the media.
In India, the Pakistan High Commission issued visas to Jadhav’s family earlier last week. Their visas were issued to them after the decision for Jadhav and his family to meet was approved in Pakistan before this. The meeting is going to take place at the Foreign Affairs Ministry at Islamabad.
The decision to ensure Jadhav and his family meet is taken on Humanitarian grounds, according to officials in Pakistan. In fact, there has been a request put forth by the Government of India to not harass or question Jadhav’s family if they set foot in the country. The Indian Government has asked for this sovereign guarantee.
Earlier attempts at such a consular access were repeatedly denied by the Government of Pakistan. They claimed that New Delhi wanted to extract “information” through these means by gathering and sending spies to the country. At the Vienna Convention a counter-memorial submitted to the International Court of Justice stated that such an access is supposed to be only for legitimate visitors and not for spies from India.
Pakistan claims that Jadhav was arrested in Balochistan by the security forces in March last year. He is said to have entered the territory of Pakistan from Iran. India, on the other hand, claims that Jadhav was kidnapped in Iran where is did his business. On India’s appeal to the International Court of Justice, his execution was stayed.
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