On death row, Kulbhushan Jadhav allowed to meet mother and wife from behind a screen

Jadhav, 47, was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court on charges of espionage and terrorism in April, following which India moved the ICJ in May.

By: Express Web Desk

New Delhi | Updated: December 25, 2017 09:53 PM IST

3 min read

Kulbhushan Jadhav meeting family members

Kulbhushan Jadhav during the meeting with his mother and wife at the Pakistan Foreign Office in Islamabad. (Source: Twitter: Pak MOFA)

Former Indian naval officer Khulbhushan Jadhav met his mother and his wife at the Pakistan foreign office in Islamabad on Monday. In the meeting, which lasted for close to 35 minutes, Jadhav spoke to his family through an intercom as a glass screen separated them.

There was confusion earlier today when Pakistan foreign minister said it had granted India consular access to Jadhav. The claim was, however, downplayed by Indian officials saying that allowing an Indian official to be present at the meeting doesn’t construe as consular access. Later in the day, Foreign Office spokesperson Dr Mohammad Faisal cleared the air and said India’s Deputy High Commissioner J P Singh, who accompanied the visitors, was not allowed to speak or listen to the conversation of meeting.

“This meeting was not consular access as we had told India that its diplomat would see the meeting but was not
allowed to speak or participate in it,” Faisal said. Jadhav, who was sentenced to death, met his family members for the first time since he was arrested and ‘tried’ by a military court.

Images released by the Pakistan Foreign Office showed Jadhav, who was wearing a navy blue suit, sitting in a small cabin and speaking with his family through a glass screen. While Pakistan government had earlier said that they would allow an Indian official to be present at the meeting, pictures showed Indian Deputy High Commissioner J P Singh standing outside the room during the interaction.

A new video featuring Jadhav was released to the media by the foreign office after the meeting ended. In the pre-recorded video, Jadhav thanked the Pakistan government for its ‘grand gesture’. “I requested a meeting with my wife and mother and I am thankful to Govt of Pakistan for this grand gesture,” he was quoted as saying by ANI.

Read | Who is Kulbhushan Jadhav?

Meanwhile, the Pakistan foreign office, at a press conference, repeated the charges against Jadhav and called him the face of ‘Indian terrorism’. Dr Mohammad Faisal, spokesperson of Pakistan’s MOFA, said that the meeting was allowed as a humanitarian gesture on the birthday of Muhammad Ali Jinnah.

Read | What is consular access?

Pakistan has repeatedly denied India’s request for consular access since Jadhav’s arrest. India and Pakistan are currently locked in a legal wrangle at the International Court of Justice. The court had earlier issued a stay on the death sentence of Jadhav.

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Jadhav, 47, was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court on charges of espionage and terrorism in April, following which India moved the ICJ in May. The ICJ halted his execution on India’s appeal pending the final verdict by it. Pakistan claims its security forces arrested Jadhav, alias Hussein Mubarak Patel, from its restive Balochistan province after he reportedly entered from Iran.

India, however, maintains that Jadhav was kidnapped from Iran where he had business interests after retiring from the Indian Navy.

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