Tearing into Pakistan for insulting the wife and mother of Kulbhushan Jadhav, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Thursday said the neighbouring country missed a golden opportunity to strengthen bilateral ties and used the meeting to “further its propaganda.”

Addressing the Rajya Sabha, Sushma Swaraj said: “This meet could have improved bilateral ties between the two nations but Pakistan used it to further its propaganda.”

“A meeting of a mother with her son and a wife with her husband was turned into a propaganda tool by Pakistan,” she added.

Pakistan described the meeting as a “humanitarian gesture” on the birth anniversary of Muhammad Ali Jinnah. However, Sushma Swaraj said that the human rights of Jadhav’s mother Avanti and wife Chetankul were violated again and again.

“It was nothing like a humanitarian gesture. Human rights of the family members were violated again and again and an environment of fear was created for them,” she said.

The minister further said that Jadhav’s mother who only wears a saree was forced to wear salwar-kurta while bindi, bangles and mangalsutras of both the women were removed and were made to like widows.

“Upon not seeing the bindi and mangalsutra, Kulbhushan thought something had happened to his father and he asked his mother about it,” she said.

Dismissing Pakistan’s allegation against Jadhav’s wife that she had something suspicious in her shoes and that’s why the footwear were confiscated, the minister termed the accusation as “absurdity beyond measure”.

“Even after her repeated attempts, the shoes of his wife were not returned. Pakistan says there was a camera or a recorder in the shoes, nothing can be more absurd than this as she traveled in two flights with those shoes on. It is an absurdity beyond measure,” she said.

Sushma Swaraj further accused Pakistan of putting the family’s safety to risk despite assurance as the cars were stopped deliberately in front of the media to let them harass the hapless women with their vile comments and foolish questions.

Jadhav, the Indian national on death row in Pakistan came face to face with his mother and wife after a gap of 22 months at the Pakistan Foreign Office in Islamabad on Monday.

Separated by a glass partition in the heavily-guarded building, they spoke through an intercom watched by the Indian Deputy High Commissioner JP Singh who escorted them to the meeting.

On May 18, 2017, the International Court of Justice stayed the hanging, after India approached it against the death sentence.